Headaches are a pain in your head or face where you often feel a throbbing sensation in a specific area. The pain can be mild where you can function almost normally, to severe where pain is very debilitating, you can hardly function and need to lay down. Headaches are one of the most common reasons people miss school and work.
You may not be aware but the type of headache you have is determined by the location of your pain.
Tension headaches are generally felt at the back of your head and neck or near the top of your head. This is the most common type of pain that is generally referred to as a headache. In most cases, a headache will only last for a few hours and causes a low to moderate amount of pain.
Migraines are headaches that can appear on one or both sides of your head at the same time. The pain can be very light up to a very severe throbbing that makes it hard to function. Typically a migraine will last anywhere between 4 hours and 3 days. They can also be categorized as chronic migraines, having them 15 or more days per month, or episodic, having them less than 15 days per month. Most people are familiar with the primary symptom of migraines and headaches which is the debilitating, throbbing pain in your head. This can’t get worse with sensitivities to environmental stimuli, such as bright lights, loud noises, or specific odors.
Sinus headaches are generally felt between your eyes and along your nose. These headaches generally come when you have a runny or stuffy nose. Frequently sniffling or blowing your nose can make these worse, and breathing through your nose often makes the pain worse. Most people get this type of headache when they are sick and not feeling well, and a sinus headache can last multiple days until the sickness is gone.
Similar to a migraine, cluster headaches one side of your face but the pain is felt in or behind your eye, like someone is stabbing you. This can cause your eyes to water trigger a stuffy nose. A cluster headache typically only lasts for 30 to 90 minutes but the pain is almost always severe
While some headaches are more severe than others, you may experience some or all these symptoms during different phases of your headache:
Headaches are known for their intense and debilitating pain. While each type of headache has its own specific cause, the underlying issues that influence headaches range from a variety of factors including one of more of the following:
Understanding these varied causes is crucial for developing effective strategies to manage and prevent migraine or other head ache episodes.
Here at Active Edge, our headache and migraine specialists can help you find the root cause of your migraines and provide you with a program that will provide long-term relief and get rid of chronic headaches.
Commonly, headaches and migraines are treated with medication to block the pain signal to your brain. These may be over-the-counter or prescribed medications. While these may alleviate pain, this ignores the problem which is causing the pain in the first place and allows that problem to potentially worsen and lead to other symptoms.
At Active Edge, our headache and migraine doctors will focus in finding the root cause of your migraines and equipping you with tools to prevent and treat them in the future. The cause of your migraines may be physical, physiological, or a combination of the two. We find that headaches and migraines can be improved with:
Your health history will help us determine which direction to take in investigating your roots.
It is important to understand that to get to the root of the issue, it takes some listening to the body. When you come in with a migraine, we may start working muscles in your neck, monitor the pain, follow it, and then end up in your ankle.
If you are someone who has pre-existing conditions with your hormones or gut, we may look at healing those systems first. Oftentimes, seemingly residual or unrelated symptoms like headaches go away when those internal systems are working better.
Healing will look different for everyone. Some bodies point us more directly to the root while others take us down a tangly path which requires us to peel back many layers before we reach the root. However, remember that anytime the body presents something new, we are doing our best by listening and following it. That counts as progress.
As Doctors of chiropractic, we’ve done rigorous study of spinal and cranial anatomy, neurology, physiology, nutrition, structural health, and more. We’ve refined our knowledge over the years with continuous study of full body health, fascial pattens, and the far reaching affects of old injuries, compensations, understanding of organ to joint relationships, blocked emotions manifesting in physical disease, and more.
Our doctors are trained in a variety of techniques and utilize this diversified approach to make each patient’s experience as effective and comfortable as possible. Some of the techniques in our office include:
Applying these and other modalities in private practice since 2012, patients continually see positive improvements in pain reduction, prevented unnecessary surgeries, and they rediscover so many aspects of life that migraines have been keeping them from.
Yes! Many headaches can stem from problems in the back, neck, or your soft tissues. Spinal and cranial manipulation including Nasal Release Technique, and therapies like massage or dry needling can assess the issues with your connective tissues. At Active Edge we don’t just address the physical cause of migraines but also the physiological side through diet and lifestyle modification. Our care for migraine patients often will consist of both physical and physiological work and in doing so our patients experience quicker and longer lasting results!
While you may experience headaches every day it is not normal, and you shouldn’t have a daily headache! These daily headaches are warning signs from your body that something is wrong whether it is physical or physiological. You may have tight muscles, spinal or cranial subluxations, food sensitivities, blood sugar handling issues, emotional stress and many more factors playing into why you have daily headaches.
It’s important we figure out your headache triggers as that will guide us in finding the root cause of your headaches.
Nutrient-rich foods and those high in antioxidants are great choices. These include foods such as:
Essential oils are known for their relaxing properties that help your muscles relax, reduce anxiety, and more. Many headaches are caused by stress so any type of relief can be helpful. That being said, people can react differently to smells and some scents can actually cause headaches or make symptoms worse so choosing the right one(s) and using pure oils is very important. Essential oils that can provide some headache relief include:
At this point, you are feeling better than you ever thought you could as you are feeling energized and thriving. You have learned a lot about your body, you are moving more efficiently, you understand your body’s cues, and you have a good idea of what to do with these cues. This means you get to try new things, achieve new goals, and conquer new challenges! As you do, we will be here as your resource, as needed, to help you nourish, boost, and refresh your health.
Pain is generally the last symptom to show up and the first to go away. This means that by the time you realize there is a problem, there has been a problem for a long time. Especially for chronic or recurring issues, understanding how you got to where you are is so important for getting to where you want to go. In this stage of your journey, you will resolve underlying dysfunction, remove cheats, and retrain habits. As we aid you in activating your body’s natural healing potential, we will help you regain movement, energy, and body function both inside and outside. Throughout this process, you will start to feel greater ease and inspiration as you restore communication and efficiency in your body. Together, we will constantly assess, observe, and reassess your body’s responses to boost your results.
You are your own person, with your own collection of life events which brought you to where you are today. You deserve to be heard, seen, and treated as the individual you are. Your journey begins with your Discovery Evaluation. This first visit includes your exam which works to uncover the root of your issue(s), new patient diagnostics, and, of course, your first treatment. This is how we will help you begin connecting the dots and feeling better. After your first treatment, we will ask you to observe your body’s responses– good, bad, or indifferent. There is no wrong answer as this is just starting point information and direction for moving forward. In your second visit, we will review this feedback and your diagnostics to further identify potential underlying causes and compensations. We will combine everything we have learned about you, consider your goals, and together create a plan to resolve your concerns from the roots up.
