Recurring Headaches? How Your Chiropractor Can Help

Headaches are caused by a variety of factors: certain foods, sounds, stress, and even natural light can all cause your head to throb and make your eyes feel sensitive.

The most common medical complaint is headache, with around 45 million people a year experiencing distracting and painful headaches. Headaches make you feel tired, distracted, irritable, and can even make daily activities like playing with your children or focusing at work difficult.

When medications fail to fully eradicate your headache pain or you find your headaches are getting worse, chiropractic care can help. Here are ways your chiropractor can bring you relief.

The first way your chiropractor will assist you in your recurring headaches is determining the cause of your ailments. Your chiropractor will ask you to give them details about when your headaches occur and how long they last. The chiropractor can use information from your general doctor as well to determine what may be causing your headaches.

An initial consultation will also include a physical exam of your neck, upper and lower back, hips, and spinal alignment. After your consultation, your chiropractor will explain the treatments they will perform to help alleviate your headache symptoms.

The most common type of headache is a tension headache, caused by tight muscles in the back of the neck and the upper spine. Migraines are another type of painful condition is that is believed to be caused by a neurological disorder. Migraines and tension headaches affect the sufferer in different ways and are each treated with special care by your chiropractor. Treatments for recurring headaches include spinal readjustment, stretching exercises, and diet and lifestyle changes.

In some cases, poor alignment of the spine causes headaches. The pressure of spinal tissue and bone against your neck and shoulder muscles leads to pinched nerves, causing painful, recurring headaches. Spinal readjustment of the lower and upper spine can help relieve your symptoms.

If posture is believed to be part of your headache issue, strengthening your muscles and elongating your spine can help make your symptoms less severe. Work on your posture with your chiropractor by practicing stretching exercises to potentially make your headaches fade with time.

Your chiropractor can offer lifestyle and diet changes to help modify the severity and frequency of your headaches. A custom diet can include adding more vitamins to your nutritional intake or drinking more water to help put your body in balance.

Lifestyle changes include moving around after long periods of sitting, continuing stretching exercises at home, or even eliminating certain headache triggers from your life. Triggers include:

Before undergoing a custom lifestyle or dietary change, inform your chiropractor of any health issues you have, such as low or high blood sugar, food allergies, or physical restrictions. It may take several weeks before a change in diet or lifestyle results in positive change in your headache recurrences.

People get headaches for several reasons, and this common physical ailment can be debilitating in many ways. Your chiropractor should be made aware of any sudden changes in your body during treatment, such as random muscle spasms, joint stiffness, worsening headaches, halo vision, and other problems. Your chiropractor will make adjustments to your custom treatment plan as needed.

Visit your chiropractor as recommended to see continued results in your headache issues. Over time, you will likely need to see your chiropractor less often as your headache condition improves. Schedule a consultation with the helpful chiropractic staff of Corner Chiropractic Center. After your consultation, you can begin treatment for your recurring headaches with a skilled chiropractor.