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If you suffer from headaches, you may think you’ve tried every available method of relief with no success. Surprisingly, chiropractic care might be an option worth investigating. The majority of headaches people experience are tension related. We see patients with neck and upper back pain all the time. There’s even a condition called text neck, where our forward-slumped posture is contributing to muscle imbalances. All of these issues are tied together—the treatment of muscle tension with chiropractic care may be an effective way to combat headaches.
Of course, headaches have many different causes. Allergies and sinus issues, weather changes, and even dehydration could contribute to headaches. Especially with the upcoming heat this summer, your brain and muscles need water for the most basic of chemical reactions. Nutrition also plays a role in headaches—if you don’t eat for a few hours, you’ll probably become irritable and your body may send pain signals, resulting in a headache. TMJ (temporomandibular joint) pain can result in headaches as well. This is when the joint where the jaw attaches to the skull becomes inflamed, resulting in pain along the side of the head.
A common tension headache starts at the base of the skull. What patients may not realize is the sheer amount of blood vessels and nerve endings that reside in the scalp and go around the head and eyes. Increased muscle tension leads to decreased range of motion and irritation of the joints and soft tissue in this area. By restoring normal motion, patients will experience a reduction in the frequency and intensity of headaches. We may decide that adjustment is an effective treatment for the patient’s unique case. Soft tissue therapy also helps to relieve the tension that may be irritating the nerves and blood vessels surrounding the head.
There are also a few things we can do in our daily lives to help mitigate the potential for headaches. People who use their computers, phones, or tablets in a seated position should pay attention to how long they’ve been sitting down. We encourage people who are seated for most of the day to break up their sitting on a regular basis. Of course, this doesn’t mean that you have to remain standing for most of the day, either. It’s just a matter of taking a quick break to shake your arms, stretch your neck, or move your head around for a minute. You’ll reset your posture and break the cycle if muscle tension is contributing to your headaches.
If a patient does decide to seek chiropractic care for their headaches, we’ll need to take a few factors into consideration before we give a timeframe estimate for when they’ll experience relief. For instance, it would be a much slower case to treat someone who has been experiencing headaches for 20 years. Age, predisposition, and potential complications will also play a large role. More often than not, however, it will take a few treatments before patients begin to feel a difference.
If you’re suffering from tension headaches and you want to look into the potential benefits of chiropractic care, contact us online or give us a call at (918) 743-3737.
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