Chiropractic care for
headaches and migraine

According to the World Health Organization, headache disorders are underestimated, under-recognised and under-treated throughout the world. They are one of the most common disorders of the nervous system, causing pain and disability that can reduce quality of life.
There are many different types of headaches and they don’t necessarily start in your head. Some begin in your spine. Chiropractic care has helped many people to relieve the symptoms of headaches and migraine and improve their quality of life.

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How can a headache start in your spine?

It sounds strange doesn’t it? But your body is a beautifully complicated piece of work and it’s quite common for pain felt in one area to be caused by a problem somewhere else.

Cervicogenic headaches originate in your neck (officially known as your cervical spine). They’re the result of a disorder somewhere in your cervical spine and may be traced back to its vertebrae, discs or soft tissues.

Your cervical spine has many pain-sensitive structures, including the lining of the spine, the joints, ligaments and cervical nerve roots. Potential causes of cervicogenic headaches include an underlying condition like arthritis which affects the structures of your neck, poor posture or muscle strain.

Many other headache disorders, including tension headaches and migraine may also involve pain or tension around the neck.

What are the symptoms of headache and migraine?

Headache and migraine symptoms vary depending on the particular type you’re dealing with. Common symptoms include:

Cervicogenic Headaches

A dull ache, usually on one side of your head, often accompanied by a sore shoulder

Tension Headaches

A dull ache around the whole head, often with tenderness in your neck or shoulders, which seems to be triggered by stress

Cluster Headaches

Intense bursts of debilitating pain on one side of your face or behind the eye

Migraine

Severe headache alongside nausea, vomiting, noise sensitivity or visual disturbances known as aura

How can chiropractic care improve headaches and migraine?

Chiropractic care helps to treat the underlying muscle tension or misalignment that may be causing your headaches. It also helps to ease stress, another contributor to headaches and migraine. Your chiropractor can also help you to correct your posture which may also reduce headaches.

Chiropractors are skilled in assessing and treating headaches, with evidence showing that chiropractic care, including manual therapy, can alleviate cervicogenic and tension headaches and help to reduce the intensity and frequency of migraine.

How can Burnside Chiropractic Help?

Remember, there’s no such thing as a ‘normal’ headache because it’s not ‘normal’ to live with chronic pain. All headaches have a cause. At Burnside Chiropractic, we focus on identifying and addressing that cause as well as relieving your immediate symptoms.

We may use manual therapies like soft tissue massage or joint mobilisation, alongside manual adjustments of your spine to restore proper alignment. We can also talk to you about lifestyle modifications that may improve your headaches and we’re happy to work alongside others in your healthcare team as part of a multidisciplinary approach to treating headache and migraine.

If headaches are often interfering with your plans, then it’s time to do something about them.