It is rare to find someone who claims never to have suffered from a headache. On the other hand some people have headaches every day. In the 20th century, at least 100,000 articles and 1,500 books have been written on headaches. Theories explaining headache vary tremendously, ranging from the divine (original sin) to the microscopic (the nitricoxide molecule).
Research studies over the past 20 years indicate that about 40 to 50 percent of headaches originate somewhere in the upper back or neck. This obviously is not in the head, and is why chiroprac-tors and other manual therapists have a steady stream of patients who consult for this common problem.
Chiropractors have had considerable success relieving the cause of headache pain and releasing headache sufferers from the dangerous vicious circle of taking ever-larger doses of ever-stronger painkillers that may even be causing new and worse headaches.
Chiropractic adjustments have shown to be as effective and even more effective than medications in reducing the severity and frequency of headaches. Chiropractic is particularly successful dealing with cervicogenic headache. Even though cervico-genic and other tension-type headaches may not actually involve stress or muscle tension, chiropractic’s ability to adjust spinal abnormalities seems to lessen or remove the forces contributing to many individuals headache pain.
Most often, the root cause of headaches is vertebrates in the neck.
When a chiropractor adjusts the cervical spine with manipulations, the neck muscle spasm reduces and this relieves the pressure on the vertebrae and spinal nerves. The adjustment or manipulation carried out is a fast but short thrust that is aimed at one or more vertebral joints. As these headaches happen, the neck muscles become affected leading to sore-ness and tenderness. These muscles in turn make tense and tight, the fibrous lining of the scalp, called the aponeuorsis, to which they are attached. Considering that this aponeuorsis is located under the hair and skin you develop a feeling of a tight band around the skull. Many people also experience the feeling that someone is standing on their head. In chiropractic treatment ad-justments are often successful in removing the tension and reliving the pain. Chiropractic treatment also reduces the nerve irritation that occurs with a sub-luxation (spinal misalignment).