Headaches are a common complaint in patients
presenting for professional care, including chiropractic management. Patients with headaches seek chiropractic
care because they find manipulation or adjustments applied to the cervical
spine and upper back region are highly effective in reducing the intensity,
frequency and duration of the headache pain.
This is because the cervical spine / neck, is often the origin of the
headache as the three nerves in the upper neck (C1, 2 and 3) pass through the
thick, overly taught neck muscles in route to the scalp / head. When the muscles of the neck are in spasm,
the nerves get “pinched” or squeezed by the overly tight muscles resulting in
headache pain. Each nerve runs to a
different part of the head and therefore, pain may be described as “…radiating
over the top of head (sometimes into the forehead and eyes),” or, into the head
and over the ear, sometimes reaching the temple. Also, an area located in the back and side of
the head is the area where the C1 nerve innervates, so pain may also be
reported in that location. When more
than one of the C1-3 nerves is pinched, the whole side to the top of the head
may be involved.
In the October 2009 issue of The Spine
Journal, Western States Chiropractic College, Center for Outcomes Studies,
reported benefits are obtained with the utilization of spinal manipulation in
the treatment of chronic cervicogenic headaches. The word “chronic” means at least 3 months of
headache pain has been present. This new
study compared 2 different doses of therapy using several outcome measures
including the pain grade, the number of headaches in the last 4 weeks and the
amount of medication utilized. Data was
collected every 4 weeks for a 24 week period and patients were treated 1-2
times/week and separated into either an 8 or a 16 treatment session with half
the group receiving either spinal manipulative therapy or a minimal light
massage (LM) control group.
The results of the study revealed the spinal
manipulation group obtained better results than the control group at all time
intervals. There was a small benefit in
the group that received the greater number of treatments with the mean number
of cervicogenic headaches reduced by 50% in both pain intensity and headache
frequency.
The importance of this study is significant as
there are many side effects to medications frequently utilized in the treatment
of headaches. Many patients prefer not
taking medications for this reason and spinal manipulation therapy (SMT) offers
a perfect remedy for these patients.
Couple SMT with dietary management, lifestyle modifications, stress
management, and a natural, vitamin/herbal anti-inflammatory (such as ginger,
turmeric, boswellia) when needed, a natural, holistic approach to the
management of chronic headaches is accomplished.
