Headaches myths and facts. Three things to do for proven relief.

Headaches myths and facts. Three things to do for proven relief.

Many people suffer from headaches, whether that be tension, migraine or cluster headaches which are most common. What you do for relief of the problem will determine how you respond and whether you continue to get them.

Common headaches and their causes.

Bruxism or grinding of the teeth is the most common reason for morning headaches. Often this is due to a malocclusion or asymmetry of your bite most often caused by the loss of a rear molar. Most dentists can help this by using a bridge or better yet, an implant to level the bite. This helps, however, in some cases, a dental night guard can also help relieve the condition. If you have deep emotional issues that have not been dealt with, it can cause you to clench at night as you dream and maybe the issues should be spoken about and dealt with through a licensed psychologist. Other causes are musculoskeletal which are more common than most people believe, especially if the fascia (connective tissues) surrounding the jaw muscles cause the jaw to deviate. A chiropractor can be quite helpful to relieve the clenching by working on the muscles and the joints.

Migraine headaches often are found in certain families, and most often affect women. The headache is caused by a dilation and contraction of the blood vessels in the brain and the condition can be triggered by clenching of the jaw, certain foods as well as other triggers. An underlying feature of people who suffer from this are tight muscles surrounding the neck and shoulders which is often relieved through chiropractic treatment methods.

Tension headaches are relieved by chiropractic manipulation, acupuncture, many over the counter medications and massage as well. Underlying most tension headaches is usually stress but most commonly body asymmetry. Most sufferers are unaware that one side of their body is tighter, but because of the one sided tension at the base of the skull, and the way it irritates the neck joints, taking a medication will decrease the symptoms, but not deal with the problems creating them. A visit to the chiropractor can be quite helpful in getting more long lasting relief because they will resolve the problem, rather than just treat the symptom. In rare situations, people will not be relieved by any intervention and medical referral and workup may be necessary, however, since these types of problems are rare, the conservative chiropractic approach should always be tried first, and since they are trained to refer if the problem is unresponsive, you should feel confident that the doctor will refer you if necessary to the proper medical specialist.

Cluster headaches – these are usually felt behind the eye but are not common. They involve one sided head pain that can be more intense than a migraine. While there are some medications that are helpful, chiropractic manipulation has also been shown to be helpful as well as cranial manipulation.

Three things you can do to get relief naturally.

1. See a chiropractor. Many people do not realize how safe spinal manipulation of the neck is and some misinformation campaigns have been designed to scare people away from a chiropractic option. Chiropractic malpractice insurance costs about 1/10th of what most primary care physicians pay based on claims.

See someone who performs myofascial release treatment and will look over the entire body. Often, problems with body asymmetry will put tension on the neck and create the problems from well below the neck, including the pelvis and the legs. Instrument assisted soft tissue treatment is also quite effective in relieving fascial tightness which pulls on the neck. Compare this to taking medications which dull the pain, but do not resolve the problems and you will realize that chiropractic is a healthier approach to relieving most headaches.

2. See an acupuncturist – Acupuncturists are licensed and deal with energy flows in the body called meridians. While this is not what western medicine readily understands, often, if body energies are out of balance, also known as chi, you can have headaches. Often, this combined with a chiropractic approach can be quite helpful in relieving tension, migraine, cluster and bruxism based headaches.

3. Massage therapy – A good massage therapist will loosen up the myofascial restrictions and allow you to move more freely. If your doctor of chiropractic does not perform any myofascial release, a good massage therapist can help loosen the restricted areas which will help you improve your headaches and the way you feel.

While there are other health care providers such as your primary care doctor or in more extreme cases, a neurologist that can offer some relief, it is usually with the use of medications that merely mask the symptoms. Many over the counter medications work, without resorting to more powerful pharmaceutical agents. The goal should be to find the cause, and then have it treated rather than only relieve the symptom which will lead to bigger problems later on.

It is a myth to believe your medication is solving your headache problem and their are side effects you must be aware of with the taking of any medication for long periods of time.

What do you think? As always, I value your opinion. Learn more by reading Cheating Mother Nature, what you need to know to beat chronic pain available through Amazon.com