Headaches, Chiropractic Care: A Drug-Free Treatment!
Restored from the Empower Network archive (2011–2017), lightly edited to meet our current advertising standards. Views are the original author’s.
Headaches, Chiropractic Care: A Drug-Free Treatment!
More Americans complain about headaches than any other health condition, including back pain; in fact, approximately 45 million Americans say they suffer headaches each year. That’s one in every six people or more than 16 percent of the population. More than 8 million Americans visit their doctor seeking relief for symptoms of headaches each year. Unfortunately, the common treatment for headaches is over-the-counter pain relievers or prescription tablets. However, the long term use of these medications are harmful to the body in many different ways and should be avoided if at all possible.
There is good news when it comes to headaches. There are safe and effective natural solutions available to help reduce or eliminate the symptoms of various headache types. For example, chiropractic treatment is a highly effective alternative treatment for the debilitating effects associated with headaches. But just how can chiropractic have any effect on my headache you may be asking, let me explain the basics of how chiropractic care and directly and positively impact the cause of headaches of all varieties.
Headaches, Chiropractic Care: A Drug-Free Treatment!
Tension headaches: The most common form of headache is the tension headache. It is estimated that 80-90 percent of the U.S. population suffers from tension headaches at some point in their lives. There are two primary types of tension headaches:
Episodic (occasional): Headaches appear occasionally, usually less than 15 times per month.
Chronic: Headaches occur more than 15 times per month or on a consistent basis.
A drug-free approach to the treatment of tension headaches are directly connected to abnormal posture, muscular tightness, joint stiffness, and restricted range of motion in the body, especially the neck. To obtain optimum health and function, it is vital to remember that all body parts are connected and they all matter. Dysfunctional patterns of movement and posture directly affect how much tension and stress your body holds. The body must and will compensate for these dysfunctional patterns by any means necessary, and it accomplishes this by altering tension points, usually in a very negative way.
Muscles attach to anchor points on bone and act as the primary movers and stabilizers for your body. Transporter muscles are used get you from point A to point B, such as a getting up out of a chair. Stabilizer muscles control that movement so you don’t fall down while standing up. Abnormal posture and altered tension points on bone anchors will exert excessive wear and tear on muscles and joints, causing over time degenerative changes known as osteoarthritis. Your brain and nervous system must compensate for this dysfunction by altering blood flow, muscle movement patterns and your actual breathing patterns. These alterations often lead to tension headaches as well as other significant health issues.
Migraines: The second most common type of headache is the migraine headache. Approximately 16-17 percent of the population complains of migraines. These headaches are far more debilitating than the tension-type “headaches”. More women than men suffer from migraine headaches, chief researchers to believe there may be a hormonal element to migraines. The majority of migraine sufferers report some sort of trigger that kicks of their headaches (food, drink, smell, etc).
How Chiropractic Can Help
Chiropractic care can specifically help alleviate the symptoms of tension and migraine headaches by improving and restoring normal nerve and postural patterns. Chiropractic treatment is aimed at releasing nerve pressure at the base of the skull as well as normalizing muscle tension, restoring joint range of motion, and stabilizing the body to reduce abnormal stressors. Optimizing postural control of the head and neck reduces the workload your muscles must apply just to keep your head up during the day. Gentle spinal alignment to relieve nerve pressure and improve muscle function significantly minimizes or eliminates the factors that commonly contribute to headaches of all varieties.
Relaxed breathing is an additional tool that will improve blood flow, and oxygen supply to the brain and body. Abnormal posture, which can include such dysfunctions as rounded shoulders, neck forward over the shoulders, slouched positions and tightness in the hips from sitting all day, decrease lung capacity. This decreased capacity alters how much you breathe, how often, and from where.
Headache sufferers and many people in general, tend to breathe more from their chest and shoulders as opposed to their diaphragm. This leads to repeated elevation of the shoulders and upper back muscles hundreds of times a day, chief to increased tension in the head and neck. Chiropractic restores normal function to the nervous system, spine, ribs, and hips to maximize breathing and brilliant postural control. Better breathing equals better health.
If you’re suffering from headaches and are tired of taking pain-relieving tablets day after day, your doctor of chiropractic will work closely with you to determine likely triggers for your headaches and make subtle changes in your activities of daily living to empower you to take back control of your life.
The best way to find a chiropractor in your area is to ask your friends if they have a chiropractor that they are pleased with, or of course you can do a Google search for one in your area, but a personal referral is often the better choice.
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To YOUR health and wealth,
Dr. Z
drzemella@gmail.com
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