The Chiropractic Approach to Headaches

Headaches are one of the most common ailments to affect Australians, with between 75 and 90 per cent of the population suffering one or more headaches in anyone year.

What do you do when you suffer from a pounding headache?

Do you grit your teeth and carry on? Lie down? Pop a pill and hope the pain goes away? There is a better alternative.

New research shows that Chiropractic Corrections are remarkable SAFE and EFFECTIVE treatments for tension headaches and headaches that originate in the neck.

A report released in 2001 by researchers at the Duke University Evidence-Based Practice Centre in Durham, NC, found that spinal manipulation resulted in almost immediate improvement for those headaches that originate in the neck, and had significantly FEWER SIDE EFFECTS and LONG LASTING RELIEF when compared with commonly prescribed drug medications.

Also, a 1995 study in the Journal of Manipulative and Physiological Therapeutics found that spinal manipulative therapy is an effective treatment for tension headaches and that those who ceased chiropractic treatment after four weeks experienced a sustained therapeutic benefit in contrast with those patients who received a commonly prescribed medication. Those who continued their Chiropractic Care often had full resolution of their headaches!

What can a Doctor of Chiropractic Do?

Dr. Hooper or one of the Chiropractic Practice Team may do one or more of the following if you suffer from a primary headache:

• Perform spinal manipulation or chiropractic adjustments to improve spinal function and alleviate the stress on your system. Provide nutritional advice, recommending a change in diet and perhaps the addition of B complex vitamins.
• Offer advice on posture, ergonomics (work postures), exercises and relaxation techniques. This advice should help to relieve the recurring joint irritation and tension in the muscles of the neck and upper back.

“Doctors of chiropractic undergo extensive training to help their patients in many ways – not just back pain,” says Dr. Hooper. “They know how tension in the spine relates to problems in other parts of the body, and they can take steps to relieve those problems”.