Chiropractic Health Care - Chiropractic Care for Headaches Part 2

Awareness of the connection between headache and the spine is growing in traditional health care circles. The prestigious International Headache Society (IHS) now recognizes a category of headaches called "cervogenic headaches". These, according to the IHS rather tight definition, are one-sided neck and head pains radiating from the 2nd and 3rd cervical vertebrae of mild to moderate nature which can be reproduced by physical examination. Corresponding symptoms frequently present are a decreased range of neck motion and palpitory tenderness of the neck musculature; and less frequently symptoms of nausea, sensitivity to loud noise and light.

The chiropractic concept of cervogenic headaches is somewhat broader. We refer to headaches as being caused from a "cervical spine dysfunction" or "vertebral subluxation". We view the clinical presentation of headaches as a process or continuum ranging from mild upper neck or lower skull "tension" headaches to moderate frontal or temporal pain to migraine headaches as being part of the same manifestation of cervical spine dysfunction. In other words, migraine headaches frequently begin as tension headaches from problems in the neck or spine and progress as the problems worsen and become more chronic to finally manifest as migraine or a mixture of tension and migraine.

Many patients in a chiropractic office will have a virtual melange of headache pains, varying from day to day. They may suffer a migraine monthly or biweekly but have daily or almost daily tension-type pains. To these people some form of head pain is "normal".

Typically prior to seeking out chiropractic care, these patients have run the gamut of medical help; after seeing their GP and receiving little or no long-term help but several prescriptions, they have had their eyes checked, tried a physiotherapist, often an acupuncturist, consulted with at least 1 specialist and tried his meds and experimented with all the OTC drugs. In desperation they seek a chiropractor.

"How can I know if my headaches are coming from my neck?" Only a chiropractor can say for sure.
Sometimes the cervical spine dysfunction is only one causative factor out of several which the chiropractor needs to look at. Others are food or environmental sensitivities, sleep patterns, emotional stresses, postural habits, excessive caffeine use, too much or too little exercise, subclinical dehydration, and lack of fresh air, to name just a few. However, in the average case, the real "missing link" for successful resolution or at least relief of headaches is the treatment and reduction of the causative cervical spine dysfunction.

"How effective is chiropractic care for headaches?" The short answer is very effective.
There have been numerous studies comparing chiropractic treatment with various other treatments and even some that compared real chiropractic treatment with "sham" chiropractic treatment i.e. a known ineffective or de-activated form of mechanical neck manipulation. One study from 1995 compared 2 groups of 75 patients, one treated with the drug amitriptyline for six weeks and the other for 6 weeks with chiropractic care. One month after the trial the medication group showed an improvement of 6% while the chiropractic group had a reduction in headache frequency of 42%, headache intensity by 32%, and drug usage by 30%.

Another study from the 1978 Australian Journal of Medicine (8:589-593) compared the same manipulation therapy by chiropractic, medical specialists, and physiotherapists. Although all groups benefited from the care they received the chiropractic group improved most in all categories of measure. A 2-year follow-up study showed that the level of improvement was maintained.

Space is too limited to list all the trials and studies. However documentation is available a can be supplied upon request. Suffice it to say that chiropractic care for all classes of primary headache has been well documented and is largely beyond debate. Do we help all cases we see? No, but we do "cure" lots and we help most. Chiropractic care for neck related pain including headache and whiplash disorder is safe, effective, and beneficial.

In the third and final part of this series, we will look into the theories of how and why chiropractic works to relieve and prevent headaches.

Author Contact Info: David Phillips D.C.
http://miltonchiropractic.chiroweb.com/