Chronic Migraine Patient Improves With Chiropractic
Care
The August 3, 2003 issue of the Journal of Vertebral
Subluxation Research reports that a patient
suffering from chronic migraine headaches for a
number of years responded very favorably to
chiropractic care.
The case study involved a professional ice skater
who experienced a concussion after falling and
hitting her head on the ice. Before the fall, the
patient reported no health problems. After the
concussion, she began to have tension and migraine
headaches that continued for 12 years.
After deciding to visit a chiropractor, examination
revealed that she had a subluxation in the upper
part of her neck and a program of adjustments was
begun. Within three months of beginning chiropractic
adjustments, the patient had no more headaches. One
year after the initial adjustment, she still
remained symptom free.
The authors concluded that there was a link between
the patient's concussion, the subluxation and the
headaches.
Commentary: We would agree. The fact that the
symptoms appeared so soon after the
all and resulting concussion and the fact that the
symptoms cleared up after beginning chiropractic
care certainly suggests that the resulting
subluxation was a contributing factor to the
migraine headaches.
However, many times after an injury such as the one
this skater had, pain or other symptoms do not show
up for some time, often years later. Like your
teeth, it's not a
good idea to wait for symptoms of spinal problems to
show up before getting your spine checked. A program
of regular chiropractic wellness care will find and
correct spinal problems before they have been there
long enough to cause symptoms.
A February, 2001 report from the Foundation for Chiropractic
Education and
Research finds that chiropractic patients experience
improvement in the frequency
and severity of their headaches.
The study, a literature review performed at Duke
University in Durham, NC,
collected information from more than 2500 sources.
According to the report, Chiropractic adjustments
"appeared to result in immediate improvement
in headache severity" in patients experiencing
cervicogenic headache.
Source: Foundation for Chiropractic Education and
Research, February, 2001
How Common Are Headaches?
If you have a headache, you're not alone. Nine out
of ten Americans suffer from headaches. Some are occasional,
some frequent, some are dull and throbbing, and some
cause debilitating pain and nausea.
Headaches have many causes, or "triggers."
These may include foods, environmental stimuli (noises,
lights, stress, etc.) and/or behaviors (insomnia,
excessive exercise, blood sugar changes, etc.). About
5 percent of all headaches are warning signals caused
by physical problems.
Source: American Chiropractic Association Website
(www.amerchiro.org)
There are two ways to categorize headaches:
Primary Headache include tension-type, migraine,
and cluster headaches and
are not caused by other underlying medical conditions.
More than 90% of
headaches are primary.
Secondary Headache result from other medical
conditions, such as infection
or increased pressure in the skull due to a tumor.
These account for fewer than
10% of all headaches.
Source: 2004 The Foundation for Chiropractic Education
and Research
Ninety-five percent of headaches are primary headaches,
such as tension, migraine, or cluster headaches.
These types of headaches are not caused by disease.
The headache itself is the primary concern.
"The greatest majority of primary headaches
are associated with muscle tension in
the neck," says Dr. George B. McClelland, a doctor
of chiropractic from
Christiansburg, VA, and member of the American Chiropractic
Association's
(ACA) Board of Governors.
"Today, Americans engage in more sedentary activities
than they used to, and
more hours are spent in one fixed position or posture.
This can increase joint
irritation and muscle tension in the neck, upper back
and scalp, causing your
head to ache."
Most persons afflicted with mild recurrent or isolated
headaches do not consult
physicians, therefore, the true incidence is unknown.
One recent survey
demonstrated that in some populations, 70-90 percent
of subjects questioned
admitted to having at least one headache in the previous
year, with a similar
incidence reported in children. Another study conducted
in Scandinavia indicated
that 75 percent of children reported having had significant
head pain by 15
years of age.
Source: Brad McKechnie, DC, DACANDynamic Chiropractic,
11/12/02
Have a Splitting Headache? Chiropractic Care Can
Help
If you have a headache, you're not alone. Nine out
of ten Americans suffer from
headaches. Some are occasional, some frequent, some
are dull and throbbing,
and some cause debilitating pain and nausea.
What do you do when you suffer from a pounding headache?
Do you grit your teeth
and carry on? Lie down? Pop a pill and hope the pain
goes away? There is a better alternative.
New research shows that spinal manipulation - the
primary form of care provided
by doctors of chiropractic - may be an effective treatment
option for tension
headaches and headaches that originate in the neck.
A report released in 2001 by researchers at the Duke
University Evidence-Based
Practice Center in Durham, NC, found that spinal manipulation
resulted in almost
immediate improvement for those headaches that originate
in the neck, and had
significantly fewer side effects and longer-lasting
relief of tension-type headache
than a commonly prescribed medication.
Also, a 1995 study in the Journal of Manipulative
and Physiological Therapeutics
found that spinal manipulative therapy is an effective
treatment for tension headaches
and that those who ceased chiropractic treatment after
four weeks experienced a
sustained therapeutic benefit in contrast with those
patients who received a commonly prescribed medication.
Types of Foods Which May Cause Headaches
Foods such as chocolate, coffee, sodas and cocoa
contain high levels of caffeine.
Foods with a high salt or sugar content may cause
migraines, resulting in sensitivity
to light, noise, or abrupt movements.
Alcoholic beverages can dehydrate you and cause headache
pain.
Other headache sufferers may want to avoid not only
caffeine, but also high-
protein foods, dairy products, red meat and salty
foods.
Source: American Chiropractic Association Website
(www.amerchiro.org
Headache Triggers
But to get to the bottom of the problem, you first
need to find out what is causing
your pain. Headaches have many causes, or "triggers."
These may include foods, environmental stimuli (noises,
lights, stress, etc.) and/or behaviors (insomnia,
excessive exercise, blood sugar changes, etc.). About
5 percent of all headaches
are warning signals caused by physical problems.
Ninety-five percent of headaches are primary headaches,
such as tension, migraine,
or cluster headaches. These types of headaches are
not caused by disease. The
headache itself is the primary concern.
"The greatest majority of primary headaches
are associated with muscle tension in
the neck," says Dr. George B. McClelland, a doctor
of chiropractic from
Christiansburg, VA, and chairman of the American Chiropractic
Association's
(ACA) Board of Governors. "Today, Americans engage
in more sedentary
activities than they used to, and more hours are spent
in one fixed position or
posture. This can increase joint irritation and muscle
tension in the neck, upper
back and scalp, causing your head to ache."
New research shows that spinal manipulation - the primary
form of care provided by
doctors of chiropractic - may be an effective treatment
option for tension headaches
and headaches that originate in the neck.