It seems like everyone has a household cure for a headache.
Some people drink as much water as humanly possible. Others are more than liberal with the ice packs. Over-the-counter pain relievers can help to reduce inflammation and lessen the severity of some headaches, but who wants to pop pills all the time?
Unfortunately, those who suffer from chronic or recurring headaches know the truth: sometimes you just can’t shake it.
That’s because many headaches are a result of more than inflammation. A large percentage of headaches occur when the spinal cord is out of alignment. When this happens, nerves, tendons, discs, or muscles can become agitated, pinched, or inflamed.
This means that your over-the-counter anti-inflammatory just isn’t going to cut it.
What Chiropractic Care Can Do?
Chiropractors are constantly studying. The experts at Cianci Chiropractic Center are trained and experienced in a variety of treatments that can help reduce the pain and frequency of headaches:
Chiropractic Spinal Manipulation Therapy (SMT)
In this treatment, your professional chiropractor will discover where your headache may be originating. They then will gently guide your vertebrae back into proper alignment. This may alleviate pain immediately.
A study cited by News-Medical.net shows that “Seventy-two percent of migraine sufferers in a clinical trial experienced either ‘substantial’ or ‘noticeable’ improvement after a period of chiropractic treatment.” In another controlled trial cited by the US National Library of Medicine, experts determined that “people report significant improvement in migraines after chiropractic SMT.”
Acupuncture
In layman’s terms, this non-invasive practice is designed to reduce pressure in the body.
At AcupunctureToday.com, it states: “Acupuncture is not only effective for migraine headaches, but also works very well with tension headaches and cluster headaches…that might be due to sinus problems, high blood pressure, or sleeping disorders.”
In a series of trials peer-reviewed by the experts at Cochrane.org, results “found that those patients who received acupuncture had fewer headaches. Forty-seven percent of patients receiving acupuncture reported a decrease in the number of headache days by at least 50%.”
Massage and Physical Therapy
Comprehensive chiropractic centers like Cianci Chiropractic will usually also recommend massage and physical therapy. The word massage may conjure lotus petals and essential oils, but targeted, professional massage can be extremely effective at reducing the frequency and intensity of tension headaches.
Candace Reimholz, of Athletico, says, “Massage therapy has shown to be effective in treating migraine and tension headaches. The American Massage Therapy Association also states that – in respect to tension headaches – massage can “decrease pain, decrease tension, reduce the frequency, reduce the intensity, reduce duration, decrease medication usage, and increase your range of cervical motion.”
Our team at Cianci Chiropractic can sit down and discuss the best non-medication-free options to help ease your headache pain. Book your appointment today.