Can Chiropractic care help alleviate my Headaches & Migraines?

Some 45 million Americans suffer from headaches, and headaches are one of the leading causes for missed days of work.  Why do headaches happen?  More often than not, headaches are the result of vertebral subluxation complex.  With gentle spinal adjustments, chiropractic care addresses the underlying cause for these headaches by correcting vertebral subluxations that may be creating both the experience of "headache" and potentially more far-reaching deleterious effects.

The following articles describes the anatomical and physiological basis for how subluxation in the neck, especially the upper neck, can result in chronic headaches:  click here,  here and here.

Boline et al published a study (click here for the abstract) demonstrating that chiropractic care is an effective treatment for chronic tension headaches.  The authors also noted that patients sustained greater long-term therapeutic benefit from chiropractic adjustments as compared to drug therapy, with few or none of the side effects associated with drug treatment.

A 1998 study by Nelson et al offers that chiropractic care as a treatment for migraine headaches that is as effective as drug therapy, but lacking its side effects.  Click here for the abstract.  A similar RCT in 2000 (click here) demonstrates statistically significant improvement in migraines with chiropractic care, with certain patients reporting a 90% reduction in migraines after just two months of care.  Another case study of interest is resolution of migraine headaches and associated symptoms in a 52-year-old woman with a 40-year history of chronic migraines with aura, for whom pharmacological intervention was unsuccessful.  Click here to read the article.  Another similar case study can be found here.