732-477-6767

Menu

Headaches

Chiropractic Solutions for Headaches

Headaches can range from mildly annoying to severe and debilitating. At Back and Neck Center, we can provide you with the most practical solutions for reducing or eliminating headaches and helping you to feel your best every day. We work with you and your family to ensure the most effective treatment plan tailored specifically to suit your needs.

What Issues Can Cause Headaches?

A number of factors can play a role in triggering headaches, including the following:

  • Blood sugar fluctuations
  • Lack of sleep
  • Loud noises
  • Food sensitivity
  • Poor posture
  • Sitting too long in one position
  • Bright lights
  • Injuries to the neck or spine

Tension headaches are among the most common types of headaches and are usually caused by excessive stress and tension on the muscles that support the neck and back. The team at Back and Neck Center can provide you with an accurate diagnosis of the underlying causes for your headaches and can recommend a treatment regimen that could provide real relief for you and your family members.

Migraine Headaches

A Migraine Headache is a very painful type of headache. Migraine is a chronic disorder characterized by recurrent moderate to severe headaches often in association with a number of autonomic nervous system symptoms.

People who get migraines often describe the pain as pulsing or throbbing in one area of the head. During migraines, people are typically very sensitive to light and sound. They may also become nauseated and vomit.

Migraines are three times more common in women than in men. Some people can tell when they are about to have a migraine because they see flashing lights, zigzag lines or they temporarily lose their vision.

Doctors used to believe migraines were linked to the opening and narrowing of blood vessels in the head. Now, they believe the cause is related to genes that control the activity of some brain cells. The exact mechanisms of migraines are not known. It is, however, believed to be a neurovascular disorder.

Globally, more than 10% of the population is affected by migraines at some point in life.

Causes of Migraine Headaches

  • Anxiety
  • Stress
  • Lack of food or sleep
  • Exposure to light
  • Hormonal changes (women)

Cluster Headaches

Cluster headaches are excruciating headaches of extreme intensity. Cluster headaches affect one side of the head (unilateral) and may be associated with tearing of the eyes and nasal congestion. They occur in clusters, happening repeatedly every day at the same time for several weeks and then remitting. Cluster headaches are a fairly common form of chronic, recurrent headaches.

The pain of cluster headaches is remarkably greater than in other headache conditions, including severe migraines; experts have suggested that it may be the most painful condition known to medical science. The pain is lancinating or boring/drilling in quality, and is located behind the eye (periorbital) or in the temple, sometimes radiating to the neck or shoulder.

Unlike migraines, they affect men more often than women. They can affect people of any age but are most common between adolescence and middle age. There does not seem to be a pattern among families in the development of cluster headaches.

Cluster headaches occur as a severe, sudden headache. The onset is sudden and it occurs most commonly during the dreaming (REM) phase of sleep. Cluster headaches may occur daily for months, alternating with periods without headaches (episodic), or they can occur for  a year of more without stopping.

Symptoms of Cluster Headaches

  • Swelling under or around the eyes.
  • Red eye (on the effected side)
  • Flushed Face
  • Excessive tears (on the affected side)
  • Runny Nose or Nasal Congestion

Secondary effects of cluster headaches are the inability to organize thoughts and plans, exhaustion and depression. Patients tend to dread facing another headache, and may adjust their physical activities or ask for help to accomplish normal tasks, and may hesitate to schedule plans in reaction to the clock-like regularity of the pain schedule leading to social isolation.