HEADACHES

Headache

Headaches are a common problem, which many Americans suffer from. It is estimated that more than 15 million people suffer from persistent and recurring headaches with no obvious cause. In the field of medicine, doctors treat headaches also known as cephalalgia primarily with pain pills to stop the current pain or prophylactically to prevent it from returning. The first question that needs to be asked by any health care provider treating a headache patient is whether the headaches are primary (benign, which account for over 90% of all headaches) or secondary in nature. Primary headaches are those not attributed to an underlying disease process. Secondary headaches are those caused by underlying disease processes which may pose a serious threat to the patient’s health. The causes of secondary headaches that are of most concern to a practicing doctor, whether chiropractic or medical, are space-occupying lesions (tumors), meningitis, and subarachnoid hemorrhage. In general, headaches’ classification is a vast paradigm of study and system formulation. The International Headache Society has an official classificatory list of various kinds of headaches and till date it is the most authentic and viable list in the context.

Classification

Here is a list of the primary kinds of headaches that an individual may suffer from.

• Primary Headcahes: Migraine, Tension-type Headache (TTH), Cluster Headache, rigeminal autonomic cephalalgias (TAC), Hemicrania, Coital cephalalgia, New daily persistent headache (NDPH).

• Secondary Headaches: This headache kind surfaces due to a traumatic stress effect in the head or the neck. This may also be the result of any kind of head injury.

• Headache due to cervical or cranial vascular disorder: Subarachnoid hemorrhage, Intracerebral hemorrhage, Giant cell arteritis.

• Headache that is the result of non-vascular intracranial disorder: Post dural puncture headaches, Idiopathic intracranial hypertension, Ictal headache.

• Headache due to introduction or withdrawal of a particular substance: Headaches caused due to overuse of a medicine, headache due to the introduction or overuse of a particular drug and last but not the least hangovers.

• Headache due to infections: Meningitis.

• Headache due to homoeostasis: Pain in the head or face may be the result of a disorder in the neck, cranium, eyes, ears, nose, teeth, sinuses, etc.

• Headache due to psychiatric disorder: Neuralgias and other kinds of headaches.

• Cranial neuralgias: Central and primary facial pain and other kinds of headaches including sinusitis.

Treatment

Headaches are so prevalent that they are a major public health problem, not only in loss and restricted work activity but financially the cost in lost productivity is over $1.4 billion dollars.

All kinds of headaches do not necessarily require medical attention. The most common headaches (primary) have been successfully treated with chiropractic care. Numerous studies show that many of these common headaches originate in the neck where the cervical vertebrae are located. The nerves that innervate your head exit from between the vertebra (bones) of the cervical spine. If the cervical spine becomes aggravated these nerves will become irritated therefore causing a headache.

So don’t continue to suffer needlessly. Chiropractic care or spinal manipulation has been shown to have a significant positive effect in cases of cevicogenic (coming from the neck) headaches. Chiropractors focus on removing the nerve irritation and restoring proper function to the neck so these headaches do not continue to occur in the future.

Once the spine is corrected and functioning properly the chiropractor will work with you to improve your posture to strengthen your neck muscles to prevent the headaches from returning.