Chiropractic Care Best Thing for Migraine Relief

Have a splitting headache? Those who’ve experienced the unbearable pain of a migraine or a bad headache know how difficult it can be to drive, work, or even carry on a conversation while your head is pumping pain.

But when a headache hits, you can do more than just crawl under the blankets and wait for it to go. And here’s the news: Research shows for migraine relief chiropractic is the answer.

Evidence on the effectiveness of chiropractic for migraine pain is limited. However, some studies suggest chiropractic care may be as effective as other precautionary remedies doctors prescribe for the condition.

What is Migraine?

A migraine is much more than a simple headache. It’s a neurological disease that can cause incapacitating pulsing pain that can leave the patient in bed for days. Sound, movement, light and other triggers may cause symptoms such as pain, nausea, tiredness, visual disturbances, tingling and numbness, irritability, temporary loss of vision and even difficulty speaking—nearly 12% of U.S citizens battle this genetic disorder. Even research shows that migraine it’s the sixth most disabling disease in the world.

There are more than 150 types of headaches, parted into two categories: primary headaches and secondary headaches. A migraine is a primary headache, which means that a different medical condition does not cause it. Primary headaches are clinical diagnoses, meaning there’s no imaging study or blood test to diagnose it.

What is an aura?

An aura is a group of sensory, motor, and speech symptoms that usually signal that a migraine headache is about to begin. It is often misinterpreted as a stroke or seizure; it typically happens before the headache but can sometimes happen during or even after. An aura usually lasts between 10 and 60 minutes. Nearly 15% to 20% of people who experience migraines have auras. Your aura is the reason you may experience numb or tickling skin, temporary loss of vision, or a blind spot in your vision during a migraine attack.

Type of Migraines

There’s a number of migraines, and the same type may go by different tags:

• Complicated Migraine or Migraine with Aura: Almost 15% to 20% of people with unbearable headaches attacks experience an aura.
• Common Migraine or Migraine without an Aura: More often than not, common migraine strikes without warning an aura may send you. The symptoms are alike, but that phrase doesn’t happen.
• Migraine without head pain: “Acephalgic or silent migraine”, as this type is also referred to, includes the aura symptom but not the headache that usually follows.
• Hemiplegic Migraine:This type of headache involves temporary paralysis or sensory or neurological changes on one side of your body. The onset of the migraine may be associated with extreme weakness on one side of your body, temporary numbness, loss of sensation and vision changes, and tingling sensation. Some it does, sometimes it does not include head pain.
• Ocular or Retinal Migraine:You may experience temporary complete or partial loss of vision in one of your eyes, along with a dull pain behind the eye that may spread to the rest of your head. The vision loss may last for a few minutes or even months.
• Chronic Migraine: It happens when a migraine happens at least 15 days per month. Its symptoms may vary, and so may the severity of pain.

According to the experts, nearly 30% of the adult population experiences headaches and 12% of U.S citizens experience migraine headaches. Women are three times more likely than men to get migraines.

It’s also difficult to predict who may experience migraines and who may not, but there are risk factors that may make us more vulnerable. For instance, up to 80% of people who get migraines have a first-degree relative with the same disease. But not only genetics play a part here. Gender, stress level, and lifestyle are also crucial risk factors. Luckily, recent studies are proving that chiropractic treatment remains a viable solution when it comes to Headache and Migraine Treatment.

Presented by – Orthobiologics Associates

According to a 2011 study, chiropractic care, which includes a combination of active and passive exercises, spinal manipulation, and massage, can significantly reduce migraine headaches symptoms. While chiropractic care is ubiquitous, there is limited evidence regarding its effectiveness for most headache types. However, guidelines regarding the use of chiropractic treatment for migraines have appeared, with a number of research studies underway. The headache type for which chiropractic treatment is often needed – tension headaches, cervicogenic headaches, and migraines – each respond differently to chiropractic care.

Another 2017 study on 104 patients who experienced at least one migraine attack per month showed that the number of migraine days considerably reduced for patients who received spinal manipulations. Even so, the duration of migraines was significantly more reduced in the chiropractic-care treatment than in the pharmaceutical controlled group.

In a meta-analysis of six studies, the researchers found that spinal manipulation reduced migraine pain and duration. While it’s true that migraines may be devastating for your physical and emotional wellbeing, there’s no need for you to suffer. The latest findings prove that spinal manipulation can reduce unbearable pain and the number of migraine days for those who battle chronic migraines.

For migraines, chiropractic options may include:

• Neuromuscular massage: Commonly referred to as trigger point therapy, neuromuscular massage focuses on points within the back, neck, shoulder, and head to relax muscles, relieve stress, and improve blood circulation. This chiropractic procedure may ease symptoms by discharging the pressure from tightened nerves that send pain signals to the brain.
• Multidisciplinary care intervention: This type of chiropractic approach, which combines relaxation techniques, physical therapy exercise, stress management, and nutrition counseling, has been found to be successful in reducing migraine intensity, duration, frequency, and disability.

While studies are limited, recent findings are all focusing on the benefits of chiropractic treatment for migraine headaches. And if you’re ready to kick off many of the side effects migraine medication can have on you, a chiropractic consult remains a viable option.