If you or anyone you know suffers from the occasional or chronic migraine, you know how terrible and debilitating they can be. Some pains are more easily tolerated than others, but headaches and migraines are not something an individual can just ignore; it’s a body-consuming discomfort and pain. Thankfully, chiropractors can make adjustments for migraines and teach patients how to help keep migraines in check and under control.
What Are Migraines?
According to the Mayo Clinic:
“A migraine can cause severe throbbing pain or a pulsing sensation, usually on one side of the head. It’s often accompanied by nausea, vomiting, and extreme sensitivity to light and sound. Migraine attacks can last for hours to days, and the pain can be so severe that it interferes with your daily activities.”
A migraine headache is a symptom of the migraine itself, and most people who suffer from migraines experience signs that the headache is coming on. There are four phases to a migraine headache, the prodrome stage, aura stage, the migraine attack itself, and the post-drome stage.
In the prodrome stage, the migraine sufferer may feel bodily signs that the migraine is one to two days out from happening. These signs may include neck stiffness, thirst, yawning, and serve mood swings.
Auras are warning symptoms that happen closer to the migraine onset, and they typically manifest as visuals like blind spots, flashes, or patterns of light. Some migraine sufferers also report feeling physical symptoms during this stage, such as tingling, numb spots, or even difficulty speaking.
The third stage is the migraine attack, which can last from 4-72 hours. Depending on the severity of the attack, the person may experience pain on one or both sides of the head, nausea, vomiting, and extreme sensitivity to light.
The final stage is the post-drome stage, in which the migraine sufferer will feel hazy, exhausted, and drained after the attack. This stage is early in the recovery period after a migraine headache.
You can understand by these four phases just how long and life-intruding one migraine can be, let alone multiple a month. To this day, scientists aren’t entirely sure what causes a migraine, but it’s believed that genetic predisposition and environmental factors contribute to their onset.
Learn About Acupuncture Treatment for Migraines
How Can Chiropractic Treatment Help Control Migraines?
There is no cure for migraines and migraine headaches; however, treatments and lifestyle changes can help keep them in control and not determine daily life.
When visiting a chiropractor for relief from headaches and migraines, they will first perform a physical assessment and examine what factors, including lifestyle, could be affecting/exacerbating the migraine issues.
After the licensed chiropractor has conducted an examination, they will recommend lifestyle changes and self-administered treatments to happen out of the office. Migraines can be exacerbated by not keeping good posture, having a poor diet, weak muscle groups, or even staring at computer screens all day. Small but subtle changes can make an impact on headache and migraine severity.
Chiropractors will offer in-office adjustments, manipulations, and corrections to treat migraines to coincide with at-home efforts.
For migraines, each chiropractor will approach the patient with different strategies to mitigate the pain and symptoms. Still, it’s expected that a chiropractor will perform spinal manipulations and adjustments to improve spinal function and blood flow, thus alleviating stress and tension on the body’s systems.
The release of tension helps to lessen the severity of migraine symptoms. Adjustments for migraines will largely focus on the musculoskeletal structure within the upper back and lower neck, which help calm down the muscles in the neck, releasing tension and easing pain symptoms.
Functional And Kinetic Treatment with Rehabilitation, FAKTR, may also be employed by a chiropractor to mobilize soft tissues and loosen up tight tissues around the neck and base of the skull. This strategy helps to relieve pressure trapped with tissues associated with headaches and migraines.
Don’t Suffer Needlessly
Migraines are some of the most obstructive disorders an individual can suffer from. There are many medications for migraines, but they carry a wealth of side effects that may introduce more concerns.
A licensed chiropractor will work with you to determine what lifestyle adjustment and in-office treatments will help alleviate migraine symptoms safely and naturally.
To learn more, please contact Dr. Jessica Rosner or Dr. Scott Rosner at our Weymouth Chiropractic office.