See Your Chiropractor And Get Rid Of Those Headaches

If you are plagued by headaches that often seem to get worse as your stress increases, you may be dealing with a shoulder, neck or upper back strain. A visit to your chiropractor for an examination will verify that and show to what extent your muscles and nerves are damaged. The sooner you get examined and start treatment, the sooner those annoying headaches will go away.

The Cause of Your Headaches

Your upper back and neck has many muscles and nerves radiating out of that area into your arms and head. Any injury to the area can cause muscle inflammation and irritation of the nerves. When the nerves going to your head are over-stimulated, you can feel pain in different areas that you describe as a headache. Even though an injury is in your neck or back, referred pain causes it to be felt elsewhere.

You can easily stress the muscles in your neck or back without realizing it. You brake quickly to prevent hitting the car ahead of you and your neck snaps forward, then back. You turn and reach for something while sitting on the couch and it pulls sensitive muscles. Even just sitting for long periods with your neck and back hunched over your desk at work can stress the muscles. You may not have any immediate pain or realize anything is damaged. But as your muscles become inflamed from the stress, and the nerves become irritated, your headaches begin.

Treatments That Cure Those Headaches

Your chiropractor may offer muscle relaxers and pain medications, but these are only temporary fixes. The real cure is to release the tension and swelling in the muscles. Your doctor may prescribe one or more of the following treatments to do that:

• Physical therapy - This is done to slowly stretch out the muscles and reduce the inflammation. This also reduces the irritation of the nerves causing the headaches.
• Manipulation - Chiropractors may work with the muscles in your neck to get them to relax. A technique called active release lets them break up any scar tissue in the muscle and restore circulation to damaged areas. This reduces the inflammation and pain.
• TENS - Transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation uses a small current to make the muscles relax. This is especially useful when your muscles are twitching. TENS is used to get rid of the spasms.
• Hydrotherapy - Warm water jets on your back and neck can relax the injured muscles. This may be combined with physical therapy to accelerate the healing.

With any of these treatment options, you may need to take small doses of pain and anti-inflammatory medication. The treatments themselves will irritate those muscles briefly, before they fully relax. Your chiropractor will try to minimize your need for medication as it can mask the progress being made on your back and neck.

Don't put up with frequent headaches and over-the-counter pain medications. See a chiropractor (such as one from Reinecke Chiropractor) for a checkup and start treatment to finally get rid of those headaches.