headaches

Muscle Tension Headaches: Although there are many causes for headaches including: strong smells, intense lights, sinus trouble, high blood pressure, dental problems, ear or eye conditions, fevers, infections, tumors, seizures, lumbar punctures, hangovers, drugs, accidents and other causes, 90% of all headaches are caused by muscle tension, worry, or stress.

What puts the ache in headache? Most people assume the pain is coming from the brain, but the brain doesn't have any sensation or feeling. The ache comes from veins and arteries in the brain and skull, membranes that wrap around the brain and cranial nerves. When these are pulled, stretched, compressed, irritated, inflamed or infected, headaches often result.

The Usual Treatment: Of course, the treatment depends on the cause: a headache arising from visual problems can often be cured by eyeglasses; an infection headache of the sinuses or ears is relieved when the infection subsides. Most common headaches are treated with painkillers.

The hundreds of millions of dollars spent each year on everything from aspirin and tylenol to prescription drugs may provide relief, but, although the pain may be gone, the cause of the headache has not been corrected. That's why we see millions of people swallowing pills for years (possibly suffering from the side effects of long-term medication), but not getting any better—only temporary relief.

The Chiropractic Approach: Millions of headache sufferers are discovering the natural, drugless chiropractic approach to health, including headaches. Chiropractors are the only healing professionals who are trained to analyze and correct the vertebral subluxation complex—a spinal distortion that can damage your nerves, inflame your tissues, cause muscles to tighten and knot, weaken your body, cause fatigue and set the stage for sickness, disease and headaches!

Research: A study of 6,000 long-term headache sufferers revealed that neck injury (whiplash, falls, etc.) is the most important factor in the cause of headaches and should be suspected in every nonspecific case of headache!

For over 100 years, doctors of chiropractic have observed an intimate relationship between the spine and headaches. Many migraine patients of all ages have found relief with chiropractic care.