As one of humanity's more common pains, headache is a
favorite avoidance tactic used among couples. It is
also one of the most frequent reasons people seek medical
attention. Unfortunately, headache is no simple
condition. So numerous are the varieties of headache,
the list of headache categories published by the
International Headache Society comprises five full
pages. In fact, migraine headache alone has 14 sub-varieties.
Although a small minority
of headache may have a sinister cause, such as traumatic
injury, brain lesion or other disease process, the vast
majority of headache is benign. Benign in this case simply
means, though symptoms may be severe, the headache is not
related to any life-threatening condition.
Most headache has more than
one contributing cause. However, abnormal spinal
position and incorrect motion of the joints and musculature
of the neck is now known to be an important factor in many
different types of headache. For example, Otter
Sjaasted, M.D., neurologist and editor of the international
journal of headache, Cephalagia, recently suggested most
"migraine" should probably be diagnosed as
"cerviogenic headache", meaning related to
mechanical problems in the neck. Yet according to this
leading headache authority, the importance of cervical spine
problems in headache remains greatly undervalued among the
majority of medical practitioners.
Headache
Warning Signs:
Both chiropractic and
medical management of headache begin with careful history
and examination to determine whether the headache is benign
or has a more serious cause. The following is a brief
list of warning signs that may indicate the need for
immediate or more extensive investigation.
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serious causes have been ruled out, your Chiropractor can
determine whether your headache is due to alignment or
movement problems of the cervical spine. Considerable
clinical and experimental research, both Chiropractic and
medical, now exists concerning the cervical spine and
headache. Results show strong evidence of the
effectiveness of Chiropractic care for treatment of most
forms of benign headache, including common and classical
migraine. In fact, a number of clinical studies have
reported success rates ranging between 72 percent and 98
percent. So if you suffer from headache, what's the
most logical thing to do? See your Chiropractor!
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