Tension Headaches: How To Relieve Pain With Chiropractic Care
Read Time: 7 minutes Learn the difference between tension headaches and migraines. The article also delves into chiropractic care and its tension relief benefits.
What Is A Tension Headache?
Most people are familiar with migraines, intense headaches that cause nausea, vomiting and sensitivity to light or sound. However, tension headaches receive less attention. Tension headaches bear some similarities to migraines such as chronic episodes and triggers like caffeine or stress. But migraines are linked directly to a neurological disorder and attacks can last for days. On the other hand, tension headaches can be eliminated by finding the right treatments.
Triggers
Usually, tension headaches are caused by an external trigger. When the body encounters these triggers, muscles in the head, neck, and eyes contract. The contractions cause pain in the head and neck region. Here is a list of common tension headache triggers:
- Stress (emotional, physical)
- Alcohol
- Caffeine
- Cold
- Flu
- Sinus infection
- Smoking
- Fatigue
- Eye Strain
- Poor posture
It’s important for tension headache sufferers to work with a doctor to determine headache triggers. Oftentimes, doctors run tests on patients to see if another medical condition, such as an aneurysm or tumor, is the true culprit.
How does a chiropractor help?
Surprisingly, chiropractors can help tension headache sufferers in a number of ways. Poor posture was listed as a headache trigger and common daily activities contribute to it. Staring at a computer screen, hunching over the phone, and driving for hours all lead to bad posture that balloons into other issues.
Chiropractors help headache sufferers that deal with chronic tension relieve the pain. For chronic tension headache patients, muscles stay in a contracted state. Chiropractors work with patients to implement a treatment plan that relieves muscle tension.
What treatments will the chiropractor use?
Chiropractors are known for using treatments that focus on spinal alignment and manipulation. Spinal manipulative therapy involves massages, exercises, and physical therapy to alleviate headache pain. Chiropractors will also forcibly move certain regions of the spine to improve alignment. Another treatment technique, spinal mobilization, utilizes a metal tool to recalibrate the vertebrae.
Do these treatments work?
Individual results vary. Some people need to undergo a complete lifestyle change to receive noticeable results. Usually, chiropractors recommend supplements and nutritional advice to patients. Providers also give advice on proper posture and relaxation techniques. For more information, speak to a healthcare provider.