Stop Headaches Forever in Shelburne
If you have headaches in Shelburne, whether from tension, sinuses, migraines or just a mystery, you know how it can affect your life. It can be everything from annoying to debilitating, affecting your work, your sleep, and then your family. Headaches get in the way of you living the life you want to live.
According to the CDC, one out of eight Americans suffer from HA’s. Are you one of them?
Popping aspirin only masks the real problem and you just can’t stop everything to retreat to a dark room every time a headache comes on.
If you are using aspirin or other types of NSAIDS like Ibuprophen, Excedrin, Aleve and many others, you should know that there is a lifetime limit to how much NSAIDS you can take: The New England Journal of Medicine tells us that one per day for a year or 1000 in a lifetime will double your risk of kidney failure in 20 years; 5000 in a lifetime and the risk increases to 800%; NSAID use is also associated with an increased risk of certain types of breast cancer. Another study shows it may not only dull the pain, but also your emotions.
Acetaminophen (Tylenol) is the leading cause of acute liver failure. One study showed in just 2 weeks of daily intake, 40% of folks had measurable liver damage.
If you have tried everything, then living a duller shorter life may be what you are settling for to manage it in the short term.
The problem is, if the drugs work at all, they will work by quieting the symptoms while you get sicker over time (side effects occur 82% of the time!) while never actually correcting the cause of the headaches. It is also not uncommon over time for the drugs to stop working as well. So you have ups and downs as you are on the way down and are adding combinations of drugs and then medications for side effects of those, and on it goes.
There has to be a better way.
But what else can you do about it?
First, it is important to recognize that a headache is a Body signal that something needs to change: remember, your body was designed to be healthy. Symptoms like headaches are a sign that you are moving away from health. They are a sign that something is interfering with healthy normal function. Only two things cause interference: toxicity, deficiency or both.
I am going to cut right to the chase and cover what are the unique and specific strategies that I have used with actual people at Wellspring Chiropractic Lifestyle Center so you can see a better way to get better results for a better life.
So is it hydration? Sleep? Stress? Side effects of another medication? Or something worse?
According to the American Council for Headache Education, 95% of Headaches and migraines come from the neck rather than a disease process.
Postural stress from traumas to the neck coupled with poor posture, poor sleep positions, and poor ergonomics in the work place will, like a cavity, accumulate over time.
Anterior weight bearing of the head stretches the spinal cord. The muscles in the back of the neck and head start firing all day long turning into ropes and then wood!
These postural stresses can cause the vertebrae of the spine to misalign and put pressure on the nerves that are feeding the structures of the head. These misalignments are called vertebral subluxations.
Stress Headaches in Shelburne that get worse through the day have a very physical and postural component and are usually correlated with the vertebral subluxations (misalignments) in the neck and upper back.
DIFFERENT TYPES OF HEADACHES
Tension Headaches
A tension headache is probably the most common type people in Shelburne experience. Some of the common characteristics of a tension headache include; a pressing or tightening feeling, bilateral location, mild to moderate intensity, pain lasting from 30 minutes to one week. Tension headaches don’t normally include nausea or vomiting, but they may include light or sound sensitivity. The presence of tension headaches is not attributed to another health disorder.
How can posture cause headaches? Well, the skull is attached to the muscles in the neck that are also connected to the spine! When there is pressure and tension placed on these muscles they can often pull the bones in the skull in directions they weren’t meant to go! Take a look at this video where we break down how posture might be causing headaches!
Cluster Headaches
Cluster headaches are quite different from both tension headaches and migraines, occurring in only about 1% of the population. While most migraine sufferers are women, men between 20 and 40 are the main recipients of cluster headaches. This type of headache produces severe pain around the eyes or along the side of the head. Attacks usually last from 15 minutes up to 3 hours and have been known to occur 8 times in a single day. Tearing, forehead sweating, and nasal congestion may accompany cluster headaches. The intense pain makes some sufferers restless or agitated during the attack.
Sinus Headaches
This time of year, sinus headaches are a common occurrence. Even if it is allergy related, there are natural treatments that can be done to eliminate the cause instead of just covering the symptoms with medicine! Check out this video to see how Dr. Rice is able to eliminate sinus headaches for Shelburne patients!
Migraine Headaches
Migraine headaches aren’t as common as tension headaches and they are often mistaken for something else. Quite often, a sufferer will attribute any bad headache pain to a migraine, but this isn’t always the case. Migraine is a condition that can be described as a recurrent headache that lasts up to 72 hours, featuring unilateral pulsating pain of moderate to severe intensity. Migraine pain includes nausea and/or sensitivity to light, and it is often made worse with normal physical activity.
Approximately 20% of migraine sufferers will experience a neurological symptom known as an aura before they get a migraine. Auras take the form of visual disturbances or other sensory disturbances. Sometimes, auras occur between migraine headache attacks. Migraines aren’t typically associated with any other health issue.
Common Triggers
In roughly 95% of headache cases, the headache is not caused by an underlying health issue or disease. Since there are several different types of headaches, it stands to reason that there are several triggers or causes that set them into motion. Some common triggers include bright lights, loud noises, certain foods, stress, blood sugar fluctuations, high blood pressure, exposure to chemicals, caffeine, while neck tension, from using an improper pillow at night, poor posture at work, or poor sleeping habits, or spinal misalignment. Headaches that are caused by neck tension are some of the most common and are triggered by poor posture, certain repetitive motions, and other physical activities.
Migraines tend to have a hormonal component. Spinal misalignments that impact the nerve supply to the endocrine organs, like the hypothalamus, pituitary, thyroid, adrenals, or ovaries are located in the cervical, thoracic and lumbosacral spinal areas.
Most of us are totally sideways with our hormones because of four key areas:
- Nerve pressure: the nervous system and endocrine system work together to control your body chemistry.
- Your sleep patterns: anyone guilty?
- Eating patterns: insulin sensitivity. Most people have a really bad relationship with sugar and foods that act like sugar, so we really have to right our relationship with sugar and our insulin sensitivity.
- And of course, movement. We are sedentary people now… relative to our ancestry, meaning the way our bodies were meant to live. We need to be moving, sweating and panting.
This hormonal derangement needs to be reconciled in order for effective hormonal reconditioning to occur.
This means virtually every headache can be corrected by changing your habits and making an appointment with a Shelburne chiropractor.
CHIROPRACTIC CARE:
Studies out of Duke University, the Journal of Manipulative and Physiological Therapeutics, the National Headache Foundation, and the Foundation for Chiropractic Education and Research all show that “…headache patients experienced significant relief under chiropractic care,” with “sustained improvement in headache frequency and severity.”
A lot of the time the pain you feel in your head is actually being caused by misalignment of the vertebrae in your spine. Chiropractic care in Shelburne focuses on identifying and correcting spinal misalignments also known as vertebral subluxations, without drugs or surgery, restoring healthy normal spinal function and preventing degenerative changes in the spine.
We begin with a full assessment and evaluation to determine exactly what is going on with your head and your spinal column. You may require x-rays or other tests to paint the most complete picture possible before any care begins.
We use SPACE certified leading edge technology to inform us if the problem is stemming from a structural problem with the spine or something else entirely.
Specific Chiropractic Adjustments Can Help
Your chiropractor will likely perform spinal adjustments to relieve any pressure or stress that could be contributing to your headaches or migraine pain. Spinal adjustments can also improve blood flow and help reduce pain. After a series of gentle adjustments and proper maintenance, many patients report no more pain and no more need for pain medication.
At our Shelburne chiropractic office, we use a light-touch method of adjusting rather than the conventional structural model. This approach helps the brain to make changes in the body that lead to greater ease and integration of stress patterns.
SELF CARE
We work in partnership with our patients to achieve long-lasting results. We need to correct the causes of headaches, but also show you ways to stop recreating them. This means examining if there are any changes you need to make in how you eat, move and think.
Nutrition
Analyzing a patient’s diet is a powerful tool in achieving lasting results from headache pain. Did you know dehydration, and certain foods and drinks can cause headaches? It’s true! Check out this video from Dr. Heather Rice to know what foods to avoid!
We also conduct neurologically-based tests to determine what toxins are overloading an individual and where there are deficiencies such as phosphorus, magnesium and calcium. From there we can recommend specific steps for detoxing, supplementing and removing food triggers and hydrating.
Home Exercises
Advice on your posture and various relaxation techniques may also be part of the care plan.
Switching positions every 30 minutes or so, no matter what you are doing. If you must remain in a fixed position, gently stretch your neck every 30 minutes to avoid bringing on a tension headache. You should avoid clenching your teeth throughout the day. Many people do this unconsciously, but it can lead to headaches,
Cell phones and laptops can be great for productivity, but they come with negative side effects. Tech neck, the result of excessive technology use, causes the muscles of the neck to stretch putting undo pressure on the nerves around the neck. Dr. Heather has some stretches to reconcile this.
Dr. Heather shares the importance of preparing the spine for sleep to remold the loss of curves that so often contribute to ongoing headaches.
Habits
Stress can cause us to lose sleep and that can increase headaches. Here are three lifestyle habits to address for headache sufferers.
Essential Oils
We’re breaking out the elixirs! Peppermint oil and lavender oil don’t just smell like heaven, they’re also super helpful at easing the tension from headaches. Diffuse them or apply them topically and allow the aromatics to take you to do their magic.
SELF-CARE SUMMARY
- Stay hydrated: drink eight 8-ounce glasses of purified water a day.
- Avoid caffeine: chocolate, coffee, sodas, and cocoa.
- Avoid foods with a high salt or sugar content.
- Avoid drinking alcoholic beverages: they can dehydrate you and cause headache pain.
- You may want to avoid high-protein foods like red meat or mucous producing foods like dairy products and white flour.
- There may also be specific nutritional deficiencies that need to be addressed to provide tissue specific building blocks such as phosphorous, magnesium, CoQ-10 and even calcium.
- There can also be toxicities from heavy metals that need to be removed.
- Stretch your neck through all ranges of motion every 30-60 minutes.
- Get into a rhythm of regular low impact exercise.
- Ergonomics: use a headset for your phone; keep your monitor at eye level.
- Pay attention to your posture: how you sit, stand, sleep, use your devices, read, knit, you get the idea.
- Address mental / emotional stresses with meditation or quiet time in nature and get good sleep.
The chronic bad habits of our toxic, deficient, sedentary, unnatural, unhealthy lifestyles must be reconciled if you truly want to find a drug-free solution to chronic headaches.
If you want a healthy body, you need a healthy nervous system, and if you want a healthy nervous system, you need a healthy spine. Who checks your spine?
FAQ's
What are the different types of headaches?
Cephalalgia, or pain in the head, has three main categories: primary, secondary, and other.
Primary headaches include tension, cluster, and migraine headaches and occur on their own.
Secondary headaches are linked to other conditions or circumstances. They may include rebound, medication overuse or medication withdrawal headaches, sinus, food or chemical exposure triggered, hangovers, detox headaches, trauma induced like from a concussion or head injury, TMJ , or toothache, dehydration, infection, exertion, blood vessel problems in the head, tumors, high blood pressure, strained vision, mask wearing.
Other headaches include cranial neuralgia, TMJ referred pain, facial pain, and trigeminal neuralgia.
When should you be concerned about a headache?
Thunderclap headaches, described as the worst ever, waking one up from sleep, may be associated with bleeding in the brain. Otherwise, any headache that is affecting your life should not be ignored but should be recognized as a signal from your body that something in your life needs to change. Using medications that may simply mask the symptoms may seem to be an adequate short term solution, but finding and eliminating the cause is the best long-term solution. Living around headaches and medicating them may allow degenerative changes to continue unaddressed leading to trouble in the future.
Are headaches normal?
Headaches are common, but they are not normal. Healthy is normal. Headaches are not healthy normal. They are a signal from your body that you are moving away from health and should be recognized as an indication that change is needed.
What causes headaches?
The most common cause of primary headaches is cervicogenic, meaning coming from the neck. Addressing the underlying cause of secondary headaches may require detective work to identify triggers or factors to recognize and eliminate.
How can I get rid of a headache?
Temporary relief can often come from heat or cold on the back of the neck, resting, hydrating, and changing your posture. Long-term solutions will require uncovering the cause and making the changes to correct it.
Why won’t my headache go away?
The most common cause of persistent headaches is cervicogenic meaning coming from the neck. Correction of vertebral subluxations is the most common solution for most headaches.
At Wellspring Chiropractic Lifestyle Center our team is here to help answer your questions. Please feel free to contact us today.
Key words: Headache, Migraine, Tension headache, Sinus headache, Stress headaches, Cluster headaches, Common causes of Headaches, Cervicogenic, Cephalalgia, Rebound, Medication overuse, Withdrawal headaches, Hangovers, Detox, Concussion, TMJ, Dehydration, Exertion, Mask wearing, Cranial neuralgia, Trigeminal neuralgia.
OFFICE HOURS
Monday
2:00pm - 6:00pm
Tuesday
7:00am - 12:20pm
Wednesday
2:00pm - 6:00pm
Thursday
7:00am - 12:30pm
3:00pm - 6:00pm
Friday
Closed
Saturday
Closed
Wellspring Chiropractic Lifestyle Center
4076 Shelburne Road #5
Shelburne, VT 05482
(802) 985-9850