Chiropractic is a really, really safe and effective way of addressing headaches, not by treating the symptom of headaches but by addressing the root cause. So, I can speak obviously from experience as a chiropractor how we address them in our office.
It would start with a really detailed health history. How often are you getting headaches? How long have you been having the headaches? How do they feel? How do they affect you functioning? And see if we can kind of pinpoint an area or a time that caused the headache and then obviously evaluate around that.
From there you want to do a really detailed health body examination. We conduct a thorough orthopedic exam, checking the range of motion and stability of the joint and the soft tissue. And then some neurological exams too. Different types of headaches can be caused by a neuromusculoskeletal issue.
And then from that, in our office, we look through x-rays which is an objective finding and essentially defines the blueprint to your health. By shooting x-rays, you can see the blueprint of your body with your spine. And then it depends on the type of x-ray you take. If it’s a postural x-ray, structural x-ray or functional x-ray or a combination of the three, we should be able to get really close and be able to give you a pinpoint diagnosis of the issue, what’s causing the issue, and then obviously go over what we need to do to get it corrected.
In our office we use many techniques. Chiropractic adjustments are first and foremost; joint alignment and joint functions are paramount. We also incorporate a lot of soft tissue therapy. The health of the soft tissue, which allows the joint to move, and its full range of motion creates the stability through the movement. Then, what we really focus on is posture. Is your posture good? More often than not, people who have poor posture are going to be suffering from headaches or vice versa.
When you incorporate that detailed evaluation, pinpoint the issue and address those three factors, joint function, structural alignment and posture of the spine, and health of the soft tissue and then correct any imbalances that we find within all the muscles, ligaments and tendons, in and around the neck and the skull, we can get great results.
