Cervicogenic Headache Treatment & Relief – The Role of Chiropractic
In this article I want to address a few key points in relation to cervicogenic headaches:
- Cervicogenic Headache Causes
- Cervicogenic Headache Symptoms
- Cervicogenic Headache Treatment
- Cervicogenic Headache Relief
- Cervicogenic Headache Exercises
The term cervicogenic basically means from the neck. Thus, a cervicogenic headache results from some type of dysfunction in the neck, shoulders, and/or upper back. This dysfunction could result from an obvious trauma such as a whiplash injury from participating in sports or a motor vehicle accident. Or, it could result from non-traumatic events such as a repetitive sleeping position and or static posture throughout the day working on a computer.
The cervicogenic headache symptoms would include any of the following symptoms:
- Neck Pain
- Upper Back Pain
- Shoulder Pain
- Neck Tightness
- Neck Stiffness
- Head, Eye, & Forehead Pain
- Pain In The Temples
What do you believe is the most common treatment for cervicogenic headaches? I will give you a hint; you constantly see advertisement on TV, grocery stores, etc. You guessed it, medications or pills. If you are a chronic headache sufferer you may be familiar with these medications; ibuprofen, Excedrin, Advil, etc. What you may not be familiar with is recent research indicating that when these medications are used consistently for long periods of time, they can cause a rebound effect and worsen headache frequency, severity, and duration.
If you experience cervicogenic headaches we need to ask the question, “why do I experience headaches?” Even though no one wants to be in pain, you have to realize that pain is a warning signal that something is wrong. Pain is like a smoke detector going off in your house. What if you called the fire department and they simply came to your house and took out the batteries to the smoke detector instead of dealing with the fire. Well, that is basically what happens if you use these medications long term to treat your cervicogenic headaches. The headache pain may temporarily improve with pills, but the cause of the pain continues. It is not an effective long term solution for a chronic problem. The cause of headaches is not a deficiency of advil.
So, what is a more effective treatment? Remember earlier in the article when we said cervicogenic headaches are related to the neck. You should be examined by a Chiropractic Physician to determine if there is an underlying cervical spine cause for your cervicogenic headaches. As a Doctor of Chiropractic I help people with cervicogenic headaches, tension headaches, suboccipital headaches, occipital neuralgia, and other headache issues. I address a common cause of headaches, cervical spine dysfunction. Please contact my cervicogenic headache relief clinic in Roseville, MN near Saint Paul, MN, Falcon Heights, MN, Arden Hills, MN, and Shoreview, MN for an evaluation. I am trained to identify and treat several chronic and debilitating headaches.