Headache Doctor – Upper Cervical Chiropractic Care

Duke University Study Shows Chiropractic Effective For Headache Treatment

Substantial Evidence Shows Efficacy of Chiropractic for Tension and Cervicogenic Headaches

Right now, Upper Cervical Health Centers and their Doctors have been helping patients recover from Migraines, Tension headaches, and other pain syndromes for years. A study published by Duke University corroborates that Correcting the neck can lead to an improvement in headache symptoms in patients.

Here is a synopsis of the study:

 Compared to amitriptyline use, chiropractic is shown to produce slightly lesser effects during the treatment period, but markedly superior results afterward in the treatment of tension-type headaches.

• Compared to various soft tissue procedures, a course of manipulation treatments (diversified and/or toggle-recoil techniques, depending on the level of the palpitated segmental dysfunction) is shown to produce sustained improvement in headache frequency and severity in the treatment of cervicogenic headache
• Compared to various soft tissue procedures, there was no evidence to indicate that a course of manipulation treatments (diversified and/or toggle-recoil techniques, depending on the level of the palpitated segmental dysfunction) produced further improvement in headache frequency and severity in the treatment of episodic tension-type headache.

Upper Cervical Care is a specific form of chiropractic care that is interested in the relationship between the top two vertebrae of the spine and the central nervous system. Upper Cervical Doctors have found those who suffer from severe headache conditions normally have an injury to the neck or head that pre-dates the onset of the headaches. Whiplash-type traumas can injure the tissues that support the cervical spine. 

Once the tissues are injured the cervical spine biomechanically no longer moves as it did when it was healthy. The tissue injury translates into the top vertebra becoming locked from its normal position and insults the central nervous system creating a cascade of bad effects throughout the body. In the case of headaches, the muscles at the base of the skull become tight which in itself causes pain. The tightness causes a lack of joint motion and the lack of joint motion, in turn, causes the nerves on the joint surface to send aberrant signals into the nervous system affecting the vascular system(in the case of migraines) and other autonomic functions. 

The Upper Cervical Doctor is specially trained to correct spinal misalignments in the upper cervical spine. In doing so, normal motion is restored, the nervous system starts to function more normally, the muscles relax, the aberrant vascularity balances and in time the body's normal function returns. This is all done with precise x-rays of the joint margins to realize the exact spinal misalignment position. 

Once known it is corrected and monitored in order to help the body return to normal function.If you suffer from headaches or know someone who does you should do yourself a favor and take us up on our free consultation. We hope that this blog was informative and will help you or a loved one in their quest for a natural drug-free way to health!