What do you do when you suffer from a pounding headache? Do you grit your teeth and carry on? Lie down in a dark room? Pop a pill and hope the pain goes away?
We all recognize this old saying. If we don’t listen to our body, it cries louder AND LOUDER! Until we finally listen and take the action to make some important changes. That point of nothing to lose is unfortunately when many new people begin seeking alternative solutions.
Relax, breath deep, and read on for a great solution.
Unsettling Statistics on Headaches
More Americans complain about headaches than any other health condition, including back pain; in fact, approximately 45 million Americans say they suffer headaches each year.
That’s one in every six people or more than 16 percent of the population. More than 8 million Americans visit their doctor seeking relief for symptoms of headaches each year. Unfortunately, the most popular treatment is over-the-counter pain relievers or prescription medication.
There is some good news when it comes to headaches. There are safe and effective natural solutions available to help reduce or eliminate the symptoms of various headache types. Let’s first learn about that headache you may be suffering from and then the natural solutions available to relieve those headaches.
Defining the Difference
The most common type of headache is the tension headache. It is estimated that 80-90 percent of the U.S. population suffers from tension headaches at some point in their lives.
Tension headaches are intimately connected to abnormal posture, muscular tightness, joint stiffness, and restricted range of motion in the body. To obtain optimum health and function, it is important to remember that everything is connected and everything matters. Dysfunctional patterns of movement and posture affect how much tension and stress your body holds. The body must compensate for these dysfunctional patterns by any means necessary, and it accomplishes this by altering tension points. Your brain and nervous system must compensate for this dysfunction by altering blood flow, muscle movement patterns and breathing. These alterations often lead to tension headaches.
The second most common type of headache is the migraine headache. Approximately 16-17 percent of the population complains of migraines. These headaches are far more debilitating than the tension-type headaches. More women than men suffer from migraine headaches, leading researchers to believe there may be a hormonal component to migraines. The majority of migraine sufferers correspond the episodes with trigger factors.
How Chiropractic Can Help
Chiropractic care can help alleviate the symptoms of tension and migraine headaches by improving and restoring normal postural patterns. Chiropractic treatment is aimed at normalizing muscle tension, restoring joint range of motion, and stabilizing the body to reduce abnormal stressors. Optimizing postural control of the head and neck reduces the workload your muscles must apply just to keep your head up during the day. The proper spinal alignment and muscle control helps give the body a fighting chance of avoiding a tension headache.
Headache sufferers tend to breathe more from their chest and shoulders as opposed to their diaphragm. This leads to repeated elevation of the shoulders and upper back muscles hundreds of times a day, leading to increased tension in the head and neck. Chiropractic restores function to the spine, ribs, and hips to maximize breathing and good postural control. Better breathing equals better health.
We Can Help!
If you’re suffering from headaches and are tired of taking pain-relieving medication day after day, our expert team looks forward to helping you regain the quality of life back you desire – pain free- medication free. Can Now!
For Your Health,
Dr. Wendy Lanser, DC