Whether you suffer from tension headaches cluster headaches or migraines, this pain can be incredibility debilitating and frustrating to treat. Conventional treatment methods rely on medication to mask pain symptoms. Unfortunately, for severe headaches, once the medication wears off, the headache pain is quick to return. The effectiveness of medication for migraine prevention is also limited. If you are searching for an effective alternative to medication for headache prevention and pain management, then you’ve come to the right place! Our Downtown Calgary chiropractors have decades of experience using chiropractic adjustments to successfully relieving headache-related pain. Additionally, our chiropractic care team has extensive experience treating high altitude headaches that are common among climbers and hikers.
Chiropractic Care Treats High Altitude Headaches
Chiropractic care is an effective solution for managing headache pain. Regular adjustments help to reduce the occurrence of headaches by addressing the underlying mechanical problems that may be triggering your headache pain in the first place. For example, a misaligned cervical spine is often the root cause for recurring tension headaches and cluster headaches. Tension headaches are incredibly painful; you may feel as if your head is trapped in a vice. Cluster headaches occur around the forehead and temples. These headaches can strike without warning, causing debilitating pain.
Scientific research shows that a muscle spam may trigger these headaches. When the cervical spine is out of alignment, it can place pressure on nearby nerves and muscles, including the RCPM muscle. This pressure can cause the muscle to spasm, triggering a tension or cluster headache. Chiropractic adjustments are a safe way to restore proper alignment to the cervical spine, relieving pressure on the RCPM muscle and reducing the likelihood for future headaches.
Chiropractic care is also helpful for managing migraine pain. Reduced oxygen flow is linked to migraine headaches. Maintaining proper spinal alignment makes it easier for oxygen-rich blood to flow freely to the brain, which may reduce the frequency of migraines. In addition to chiropractic care, our chiropractors also work closely with patients to identify lifestyle triggers. This includes low blood sugar, eyestrain, caffeine withdrawal, and certain foods like red wine. We create a lifestyle plan in conjunction with patients to reduce the likelihood for migraines.
Our chiropractors also have significant experience treating headache pain associated with altitude sickness. Despite numerous scientific studies investigating altitude sickness, the various triggers are not fully understood. The specific cause is a deficiency in the amount of oxygen reaching body tissues; however, the underlying physiological processes underlying this deficiency are complex. The resulting headaches may be bilateral or concentrated to the frontal or fronto-temporal region.
While high altitude headaches are generally not dangerous, they are physically limiting and painful. Traditional prevention strategies acclimatization prior to initiating the climb combined with a slow ascent. Chiropractic care can play an important role in helping to reduce the risk for high altitude headaches by ensuring the spine is properly aligned.
To learn more about chiropractic care and headache relief, call Bankers Hall Chiropractic in Downtown Calgary at (403) 243-0111.
Headaches and Migraines FAQs
A chiropractor addresses the underlying causes of head and body pain by restoring normal functioning to the spine and nervous system. Many chronic pain conditions, from headaches and migraines to herniated discs to carpal tunnel syndrome, can be successfully treated by your downtown Calgary chiropractor using one or more chiropractic procedures. The science behind chiropractic medicine involves restoration of vertebral subluxations or dysfunctional portions of the spine where vertebral bones have become misaligned and are compressing nerve endings. Once your chiropractor realigns your spinal vertebrae and removes this pressure, the nervous system returns to normal, pain-free functioning.
What are Symptoms of a Migraines Headache?
Much more painful than tension headaches, migraines cause the following symptoms:
- Severe, debilitating pain that could last several hours or several days
- Nausea and vomiting
- Blurry, distorted vision
- Extreme sensitivity to light and noise
- Intense, throbbing pain affecting one side of the head
Migraines are debilitating consequences of a misaligned spine, often forcing sufferers to lie down in a quiet, dark room until the pain subsides. Prescription migraine medications sometimes ease the pain but do nothing to prevent future migraine attacks. By applying several, evidence-based chiropractic techniques to the spine, your Calgary chiropractor can remove nerve compression and inflammation contributing to migraine pain.
What are Cluster Headaches?
Cluster headaches produce severe pain that targets the area behind and around one eye. This type of a headache may affect you several times a day for several months, only to vanish for some time before returning unexpectedly. Once you have experienced cluster headaches, they usually return at some point in your life.
What are Sinus Headaches?
Sinus headaches affect people with head colds, allergies or sinus infections. Pain associated with a sinus headache concentrates around the nose, cheekbones and directly above the eyes. Sometimes, sinus headaches are accompanied by fever, swelling, and earache. Medications that dry up excess nasal mucus and decrease swelling of nasal passages provide temporary relief of sinus headaches. Spinal subluxation may also worsen sinus headaches by irritating nerve endings extending from the spine into the body.
How Can Chiropractic Techniques Relieve Headache and Migraine Pain?
Specialized spine adjustments such as the Diversified Technique and the Gonstead Chiropractic Technique have provided headache and migraine sufferers with the long-term pain relief they have been seeking but never found with prescription pain medications. Cold Laser Therapy may also be used in conjunction with either the Diversified or Gonstead Techniques to further support the effectiveness of chiropractic adjustments.
If you suffer recurring headaches and migraines and want long-term, drug-free pain relief, please contact Bankers Hall Chiropractic in Downtown Calgary today to schedule an appointment at (403) 243-0111!
