Tips for Headache Prevention
By Sara Butler
Everyone has a headache every once in a while, and most of the time they go away just as easily as they came on. But when headaches start to interfere with your daily life, it’s time to seek help from your chiropractor. Here are some chiropractic tips to help you manage your headaches, and how chiropractic can help.
Why Your Head Hurts
There are many different types of headaches and many triggers for those headaches – they differ from person to person. Some of the triggers may be the result of lifestyle choices, some may be due to an underlying medical condition and others could be due to your posture. Common triggers of headaches include:
- Foods
- Smells
- Bright lights
- Vigorous exercise
- Blood sugar changes
- Loud noises
- Poor sleeping habits
- Poor posture
- Improper pillows while sleeping
Most headaches aren’t the result of some insidious underlying health condition, only about 5 percent according to the American Chiropractic Association. The bulk of headaches are more than likely the result of muscle tension in your neck and back caused by spending too long in one posture. So, it stands to reason if you can change some of your habits, such as posture, then you can change how often you suffer from headaches.
What You Can Do
You have to be proactive to protect yourself from headache triggers. If one of your triggers is poor posture and you have a job that requires you to sit at a desk to work most of the day, then you need to make sure you’re not sitting in a fixed position for most of that time. You can accomplish this by getting up from your desk every 30 to 60 minutes to walk around. You don’t have to do anything vigorous, just get up and walk in order to make yourself do some light stretching. That should be a good start to breaking bad postural habits.
How Your Chiropractor Can Help
If you have tried to narrow down your triggers only to find your headaches aren’t going away with the changes you are making, go see your chiropractor at The Joint. Spinal adjustments have been found to be very effective with headaches that result from tension in your neck, shoulders, and back. Once those vertebrae are back in alignment, then your normal function can be restored, and hopefully your headaches will be but a memory.
If you have questions about other ways in which you can get relief from headaches, discuss it with your chiropractor during your next adjustment at The Joint Chiropractic.