Continuous headaches are a mystery to many of us. As a chiropractor, I regularly treat headaches and migraines. Why they occur seems to be the most common question to many health care providers. Some patients’ migraine headaches can be easily explained but many seem to get headaches for no apparent reason at all. An often-overlooked cause of headaches is the spine and spinal trauma to the neck. How does this occur to many individuals?

There are delicate attachments of connective tissue that link muscles in your neck areas around your spinal cord. One theory to the headaches is that tension can develop in these structures producing headaches and head pain. Another possibility to headaches is that they may be due to forward head posture.

Forward head posture occurs when the head is thrust forward in the classic bad posture pose. This is a little like a turtle neck. It is also sometimes referred to as a military neck. This can remove the natural curve in the neck causing undue stress on the spine and head. Since the head is quite heavy weighing approximately 10-14 pounds, the muscles have to counter this weight. When the neck muscles resist the load of the head, they can develop tensions, knots, trigger points, and sometimes spasms in the neck. Normally the head is more balanced over both the shoulders.

Another neck problem that may cause headaches is a joint injury/sprain that can occur after whiplash trauma from a car accident. Over some time, this may lead to joint blockage where there is not the normal free and fluid motion from side to side. Quite often other joints must compensate for this lack of movement with hypermobility of the joints. Your muscles can become tense in these areas to protect the spine from unnatural movements overall.

Since these types of disorders are so common in society they should be ruled out before leaning towards using medications over the long term. It is always important to have an accurate diagnosis before proceeding with treatment. If your headaches have become chronic and just never seem to go away, it is a sign that you are not getting at the cause of the problem.

At the minimum, the neck needs to be examined when someone is suffering from headaches. Correcting neck disorders when they occur is always a best bet. But when a headache seems to come out of nowhere and there is a history of neck trauma in your past, the neck can and should be a part of your headache management strategy.

Chiropractic care has been shown in multiple clinical trials to help patients with both tension-type and migraine headaches. In these studies, the neck or cervical spine is adjusted based on local problems of poor posture and mobility. The chiropractors at New Century Spine Centers in San Diego use chiropractic care, active release technique, and spinal decompression therapy to fix the cause of headaches.

Learn more about headaches. Stop by the back pain website site where you can get free information about chiropractic care and what it can do for you.

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