Headaches/Migraines

Headaches/Migraines

Headaches/Migraines

Just as you may have a cavity in your tooth and be unaware of the damage it's causing, so the VSC (or subluxation) may be causing serious harm to your body, sometimes for years without your knowledge.
What exactly is a VSC? It is a tiny distortion or misalignment in your spine that stresses your nervous system, the system that controls your body. What causes the VSC? Any physical or emotional stress that your body cannot withstand can cause your spine to develop a VSC.

The Chiropractic Checkup
Using his/her hands, X-ray and other instruments, your chiropractor will determine if you have a VSC. If you do, your chiropractor will give you a safe, gentle spinal adjustment to correct the vertebral subluxation complex, removing the nerve pressure and spinal distortions.

Why Does Chiropractic Work So Well?
Why has chiropractic been a blessing to millions of headache sufferers? The reason may be that most headache sufferers appear to have a VSC. For example, one study of 6,000 longterm headache sufferers (two to 25 years) revealed that neck injury (whiplash, falls) was the most important factor in the cause of the headache and should be suspected in every nonspecific case of headache. Subluxation correction has powerful effects. In a randomized controlled trial performed at the University of Odense, Denmark, those under chiropractic care decreased their use of painkillers by 36% and the number of headache hours per day decreased by 69%. Headaches affect children too.

 For example, a 10-year-old girl with chronic, severe migraine (6 times a week for the past 3 years) was unable to go to school due to the severity of her condition. Neurologists could not help her.

A chiropractic examination revealed a VSC in her upper neck. After her third adjustment she was off her pain medications and by the third week she was back in school, started dance classes for the first time in 2 years "and actually began to smile again. She was leading a normal and healthy life for a child her age by the end of the 5th visit. 
A 13-year-old boy who was hurt in a football game was in terrible pain and had to wear dark glasses and ear plugs to compensate for increased Medical doctors had given the child painkillers and had him hospitalized in traction for two weeks with no improvement. After his first chiropractic adjustment he could ride home without wearing his sunglasses and for the first time in two weeks expressed an interest in foods. In another study patients who received only chiropractic care showed significant improvement, on a par with those given a powerful prescription drug (though without the side effects). The headache index, from a diary kept by each patient, showed chiropractic to have reduced the severity and frequency of headaches as well or better than the combined therapy or the drug alone (with none of the side effects).6

These studies and clinical reports are just a few examples of the many cases of headaches that respond well to chiropractic and spinal care.

How Does Chiropractic Affect Headaches?

For many years it has been said that the DC after a Doctor of Chiropractic's name also stands for "Doctor of Cause" chiropractors correct the cause of a patient's health problems, rather than give painkillers and other drugs which only treat the symptoms. A team of surgeons may have found one of the answers as to why chiropractic works so well. They discovered a small neck muscle that connects to brain membranes. When the neck is out of alignment, this muscle can actually pull on the brain! As the lead surgeon writes: "An increasing body of literature relates headaches to pathology affecting the cervical spine and a number of clinical trials have been overwhelming proving chiropractic's efficacy of headache treatment.

Blood vessels of the head and brain demonstrate that chiropractic...is valuable for managing headaches.

Anyone suffering from headaches (or any other condition) should make sure their spine is free from the vertebral subluxation complex for the health of their whole body, not just certain parts.


References
1. Eisenberg DM. Unconventional medicine in the United States. NEJM. 1993;328:246-252. 2.'Braaf MM, Rosner SJ. Trauma of the cervical spine as cause of chronic headache. Trauma. 1975;15:441-446.
Nilsson N, Christensen HW, Hartvigsen J. The effect of spinal manipulation in the treatment of cervicogenic headache. JMPT. 1997;20:326-330.
Bofshever, H. Encephalgia/migraine. ICPA Newsletter. Jan/Feb 2000.
Every headache sufferer needs chiropractic care.