Headache is curable with Chiropractic ?

Date: July 26, 2013
Newspaper: Capital Weekly
Heading: Headache is curable with Chiropractic ?

Headache is a very common condition in Hong Kong. About 3/4 of our Hong Kong population suffers from headache at least once a year. The common treatment with many headache sufferers is pain medication.  It is a good method for temporary relief or for those who are occasional headache sufferers. But people who have chronic headache (meaning heading for more than 1 year – 2-3 times per week), medication is not really the best way. There are many types of headaches, such as migraine, tension headache, cervicogenic headache, injury related headache, arterial constriction type headache, and tumor related headache. It is important to seek help from a health professional to find out what is the cause of your headache in order to provide a customized treatment plan.

Many headache sufferers I see at my clinic have misaligned neck vertebrae and a lack of normal spinal curvature in their necks. This can cause impingement to the nerves coming out from the neck. The nerves from the neck supply many delicate sensory organs in our head.  These conditions can cause not only headaches, but also blurry vision, tinnitus and dizziness. When our neck is misaligned, it can also cause impingement of the blood vessels supplying our brain. Therefore many headache sufferers will feel pain around the head, near the eye socket and at the bottom of the head.

One headache case I encountered in my practice is related to a chronic headache patient who tried many treatments from various specialists. Her MRI and CT scans were normal. She took pain medication, but it didn’t seem to help. She suffered from stomach problems due to the side effects from the pain medication. Through a referral from her friend, she went to me for advice and treatment. She had never tried chiropractic before.  After I examined her neck, I found out that she had misalignments of the C1 and C2 neck vertebrae.   I treated her neck with chiropractic adjustments and proper muscles work on her neck. Finally, at the end of her 10 treatments session, her chronic headache condition has recovered.

Cervical vertebra (C1) will affect the following areas an organ:
Blood supply to the head, pituitary gland, scalp, bones of the faces, the inner ear, sympathetic nervous system
Cervical vertebra (C1) will cause possible symptoms:
Headaches, nervousness, insomnia, high blood pressure, dizziness, chronic tiredness
Cervical vertebra (C2) will affect the following areas an organ:
Eyes, optic nerves, auditory nerves, sinuses, tongue, forehead, mastoid
Cervical vertebra (C2) will cause possible symptoms:
Sinus trouble, allergies, pain around the eyes, earache, fainting
Chronic headache is curable if you can find the real cause of your problem and seek proper treatment.  To keep our neck healthy, we must start from having good postural habit. Don’t flex your neck or keep your neck in one position for too long while working and reading. Make sure you do extension exercises for your neck to maintain a proper curvature. As for sleeping, a proper pillow that has enough support to your neck is very important. It is a good idea to put a towel on top of the pillow if you feel that there is a lack of support on the neck using your current pillow.