Depew / Lancaster Chiropractic Beats Massage for Cervicogenic Headaches

We see a great number of folks with headaches in our Depew / Lancaster office, and Dr. William Palmer has been able to help many of them. For that matter, the World Health Organization (WHO) states that 50% of all adults have difficulties with some manner of headache condition, so this really isn’t unexpected. One of the most common sorts of headaches that our patients are afflicted by is cervicogenic headache which, happily, chiropractic can commonly help.

Cervicogenic Headaches Explained

A cervicogenic headache is one that originates from an issue in the cervical spine. It could be as a result of a problem with either the spine itself (specifically, the vertebrae, joints, or discs), or it could be because of a problem in the muscles and tendons of your neck. This problem in your spine contributes to constriction or irritation of the spinal nerves, which can give you headache pain.

How do you determine if the headache you are struggling with is a cervicogenic headache? Apart from receiving a diagnosis from a healthcare professional, a frequent symptom of cervicogenic headaches is tenderness or discomfort in your neck. This is sometimes accompanied by pain in the back of your head or between your shoulder blades.

Headache Relief with Chiropractic

Seeing that cervicogenic headaches will not go away until whatever issue is causing them is corrected, it is important to get treatment rather than just trying to "wait it out." Chiropractic care is an excellent solution, and one that can provide a considerable amount of headache pain relief.

In one study published in Chiropractic & Osteopathy, experts followed 80 people who had recurring cervicogenic headaches. Fifty percent got chiropractic care and the other fifty percent engaged in light massage therapy. Each participant was assessed 12 and 24 weeks after the treatment and it was found that chiropractic provided the optimum effects.

Specifically, this study uncovered that chiropractic adjustments provided patients better pain relief and decreased the frequency of headaches that occurred. In addition to that, it also lessened the disability that resulted from these painful headaches.

To find out what Dr. William Palmer can do for you and your headache pain, call us today. We'll do our best to get you the pain relief you need!

References

• Haas M, Schneider M, Vavrek D. Illustrating risk difference and number needed to treat from a randomized controlled trial of spinal manipulation for cervicogenic headache. Chiropractic & Osteopathy 2010 18(9).
• World Health Organization. (2012, October). Headache disorders. Retrieved from http://www.who.int/mediacentre/factsheets/fs277/en/