Q: Do you have any tips for avoiding headaches?
A: The intensity of headaches can range from annoying to excruciating. You can head off a headache with some lifestyle choices. Here are only a few:
- Regular chiropractic treatment is one of them. Muscle tension in the neck and/or shoulders is a common cause of headache. If you have a misalignment of vertebrae in your neck, it can irritate nerves and muscles and cause headache.
- Keep a regular sleep schedule. Sleeping in for more than an hour after your alarm clock sounds, for instance, can disrupt your cycle and set you up for a tension headache later in the day.
- Substances in processed foods, like nitrates in lunch meat and monosodium glutamate (MSG) can cause headaches in some people.
- Dehydration is another trigger. When your body is short on fluids, various systems start to misfire and you could be making yourself prone to a headache. You should drink six to eight glasses of water a day or half of your body weight in ounces.
- Stress is also a common cause of headaches. When you’re stressed, your cortisol and adrenaline levels surge and your body produces sugar. Rapid change in glucose level can cause headache.
I have noticed over the years working with headache sufferers, it seems that whatever the underlying causes may be – hormonal, chemical triggers, or posture, there seems to be a consistent factor related to the upper part of the neck. I estimate that 90% of headache sufferers see at least a decrease of symptom frequency and severity with chiropractic treatment if their neck is healthy enough to tolerate the mobilization techniques we need to use. I know there are many reading this that would say “well not my headache, I have migraines” or “mine are too severe and I need to stay on medication”. I am not going argue these points, I will just say that I have heard them all before. 9 of ten times, they are followed with, “I cant believe this actually helped”. If you have not tried chiropractic for headache problems, you are missing a great opportunity to be headache free.
Not all chiropractors are the same. Try one and if you don’t feel that the message you are hearing is comfortable for your beliefs or personal liking, don’t give up. Give another one a try. Your chiropractor should be able to talk to you all day long about ways to reduce headaches; this list is merely a sample.
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