Chiropractic Care and Headaches
While most people think chiropractic care is simply for bad backs, the American Chiropractic Association (ACA) reports that 14 percent of patients are actually seeking treatment for headaches - not all that surprising, since chiropractic has been proven to alleviate pain in tension headaches and headaches that begin in the neck. Now there is growing evidence that chiropractic care is also effective in treating migraines and cluster headaches.
However, most of the general public continues to see a traditional medical doctor for headaches, where they’ll likely to be offered drugs that only work to mask the symptoms and don’t address the root cause of the pain. These medications can have nasty side effects as well, including nausea and constipation, and some of them are even potentially addictive.
Dr. James C. Grey, a doctor of chiropractic, describes six common myths about headaches and medications:
Over the counter medications treat the cause of your headache.
No, they don’t. Medications primarily numb the pain. If these medications treated the cause of your headaches, your headaches would go away permanently. None of us is born with too little Tylenol in our blood.
Headache medication can’t harm you.
Actually, headache medication can cause side effects that are worse than the original headache. In the case of prescription opioids, they can even lead to drug addiction.
Stress causes headaches.
Stress is not a cause of headaches. It’s how your body adapts to stress that causes headaches. Chiropractic care can improve your body’s ability to respond to stress without pain.
Headaches go away on their own.
If you don’t treat the cause of your headaches, they will come back.
Doctors know how to treat headaches.
If this was true, no one would suffer from headaches. Chiropractors offer a “hands on, drug free” approach that is all natural and does not involve invasive treatment.
Your problem is where your pain is.
Not all headaches begin in the head. For example, someone who has suffered from a neck injury could suffer from head pain later on. These result from tension of the head and neck caused by muscles tightening around joints that are injured or unstable.
Doesn’t it make sense to treat the underlying cause of headaches rather than the symptoms? Chiropractic care is a proven, safe alternative to conventional medicine and should be one of the first lines of defense when addressing headaches of any kind. Weigh the pros and cons - there’s a treatment option that has fewer side effects and risk, costs less overall, and gets better results. Why not try chiropractic care today?