Head Issues
Many people think of head issues as either migraine or tension headaches. You may not realize that I treatment for many head issues in addition to migraine or tension headache treatment. In fact, I specialize in treating six subsets of head issues, and I have many therapies to analyze and correct many concerns and problems you have relative to your head.
Migraine and Tension Headache Treatment
You may be surprised to learn the number 1 reason for missing work is a severe headache, either tension headaches or migraine headaches. Sadly, headache treatment is often just managing the symptoms without solving the underlying problem. Migraines are mostly related to blood flow, and tension headaches are mostly related to muscles, but both types have muscle tension and blood flow elements. It just a matter of which element is more prominent that determines the symptoms and what we call them. They have another commonality: they are both regulated by the nervous system, which means both can be treated with the same type of therapy, chiropractic adjusting and cranial therapies.
Chiropractic adjusting relieves pressure on the nerves of the neck that go up and around the head. Cranial therapy improves flow of cerebral-spinal fluid around the brain which is important for proper brain nutrition and clearing toxic metabolic waste.
Of course many times both migraine and tension headaches can be relieved temporarily with drugs, but if they keep coming back, it means there is an underlying issue that needs to be taken care of. That’s where Adjusting and Cranial Therapies come in.
Head Injury and Concussion
Many possible symptoms of head injury can include foggy thinking, mood swings, head pain and memory issues. These can be caused by a mild traumatic brain injury, (mTBI), that creates an environment of inflammation around the brain and jams the movement of the cranial system that clears the inflammation. While you may have chronic headaches, there are different underlying causes and usually a very different kind of pain. Typical headache treatment may not actually help you. I find that many head injuries respond well to a treatment plan that includes nutritional support, lifestyle counseling, cranial therapy and sometimes chiropractic adjusting. Having both personal and professional experience with this issue, I can be your guide through the process. In more severe cases it may be helpful to have a friend or professional advocate to help make decisions and organize treatment. Recovery may be like a slow lifting of a veil from the mind and a returning to one’s self. For more information on concussion treatment, please visit True Brain Concussion Center, my consultancy dedicated to helping those with post-concussion syndrome.
TMJ disorder
Jaw problems can cause headaches, dizziness, ringing in the ears, a feeling that your ear is blocked, and even sinus pain. You may feel pain or tenderness in your jaw joint or a clicking or popping when you open or close your mouth, or chew. These issues usually emanate from your temporomandibular joint (TMJ), a hinge that connects your jaw to the temporal bones of your skull. Because a tmj disorder can cause headaches there is a lot in common with headache treatment.
Do you grind or clench your teeth? Biomechanical stress may be the ultimate culprit that causes you to tighten your facial and jaw muscles? I resolve these issues by looking at the jaw itself, the surrounding bones and muscles, and the overall structure of your body, especially the pelvis.
Vertigo and Dizziness
Vertigo or dizziness can come and go in an hour, a day or can last for week upon unbearable week at a time. The symptoms can come from the eyes, inner ear, jaw, or even from weight-bearing joints, especially in the neck. My first steps in helping you are to administer tests to determine where the symptoms are originating. I have found in many cases, a combination of causes will require a combination of therapies.
Sinus Issues
You have headaches, difficulty breathing, pressure behind your eyes, or your eyes are watering. For these problems, I use cranial therapies to restore subtle movement to the bones of the skull and face. This treatment keeps the fluids in the head moving so the sinuses stop getting congested.
Stress
Stress is probably the leading cause of most physical, mental and emotional problems. It can lead to issues such as chronic headaches or even a stroke. Everyone encounters stress in one form or another, but it’s how you manage stress that determines how it affects your overall well-being. Along with stress comes muscle tension that can create misalignments in the spine and nerve irritation. Chiropractic adjusting is needed to manage that kind of tension. For simple stress relief, and I normally recommend cranial therapy as a form of deep relaxation. It puts you into a dreamlike state of mind that’s calming and refreshing. Whether you have sudden or chronic stress, this therapy is a nice way to reconnect with yourself and feel your foundation. Ultimately, the source of the stress needs to be addressed, but I can help you with what the stress has done you your body and give you a chance to relax and reset through the therapies I offer in my office.