Headache Treatment

Living with constant headaches (especially migraines) is tough – feeling miserable, visiting the doctor week in and week out and trying various types of medicine that never seem to work. It is enough to drive anyone to look far and wide for headache treatment that actually works! Get headache relief by calling Advanced Spine & Wellness Center in Rockville, Maryland today. Whether you live in Rockville, Bethesda, Silver Spring or Germantown, our headache specialists can help relieve your headaches using safe, drug-free practices!

The "Analgesic Rebound Effect" Trap

When you have a pounding headache, it’s tempting to stay in bed and take painkillers. However, when taken in excess, analgesics (aspirin, acetaminophen, ibuprofen, etc.) produce what is called the "analgesic rebound effect," a type of chemical dependency. Taking painkillers two or three times a week may actually be causing the headaches; even worse, medication can hide the symptoms that need to be analyzed to determine the cause of the pain.

The cause of your pain needs to be found before permanent headache relief can be reached! Though it sometimes seems like the best solution, buying over-the counter painkillers isn't the only feasible option – there are natural, drug-free ways to eliminate headaches and alleviate your pain, and chiropractic is one such option.

When it comes to severe headaches, it is important to keep this in mind: the majority of headaches are actually not caused by problems with our head or skull. This may seem strange since the different areas of our head or base of our skull is where we feel the pain. However, according to many studies, 80% of headaches are actually caused by problems associated with the muscles, ligaments, joints and nerves of our middle and upper neck region.

What Causes Headaches?

So, what causes problems with the nerves, ligaments and joints in the neck region? One of the most common causes is poor posture and a change in the shape and position of our neck curve. When people are involved in automobile accidents,get an injury playing sports, work in poor conditions or fall on their head, neck or back, the normal neck curve may change its shape and position (see figures B-G).

In studies which deal strictly with people who suffer from constant headaches, the majority of these individuals have unhealthy neck curves (see figure B-G). For instance, in a study of 47 people with migraine and tension type headaches, it was found that "77% of all subjects…exhibited a marked reduction, absence or reversal of the normal neck curve." A recent study published in the medical journal HEADACHE was carried out on 372 patients with headaches. This medical study also found most people with headaches have abnormally straight or abnormally curved necks.

Many studies have been performed to see which type of treatments are the most beneficial for headache sufferers. For example, an article published in the medical journal SPINE compared chiropractic adjustment with different medications, physical therapy, cold packs, acupuncture, etc. Almost without exception, chiropractic adjustments were found to be the best at reducing both the intensity and frequency of tension headaches. The reason chiropractic is the ideal treatment for most headaches is chiropractors treat the cause of the headache – they look at the alignment and shape of your neck. When performed properly, chiropractic treatment can help you develop a normal, healthy neck curve and improve your posture.

Drug-Free Headache Treatment

A number of things can change the curve of your neck and induce headaches:

•    Car accidents
•    Poor work conditions
•    Falling on your head or back the wrong way
•    Sports injuries

Tension headaches can be brought on by factors like stress, anxiety, inadequate rest and poor posture. But when it comes to severe headaches caused by abnormal neck curvature, sports injuries are sometimes the hidden culprit.

Many collision injuries in contact sports like football and boxing can cause significant damage to spinal structures such as joints, muscles, ligaments and discs. These injuries have the same short- and long-term effects most people experience from whiplash during car accidents. If you don’t do anything about it (and people doblow off sports injuries, especially if they experience no severe symptoms right away), there can be significant soft tissue injury and biomechanical consequences that go undiagnosed. If you are suffering from headaches and/or neck pain due to a sports injury, it is time to get checked out and receive headache treatment. Don’t continue living with the pain!

Residents from all over Montgomery County, Maryland have left our Rockville office pain-free! Chiropractic is sometimes overlooked when it comes to headache treatment, but it is one of the simplest and safest ways to obtain lasting relief. Contact our Rockville, MD headache specialists today!