Two At-Home Stretches to Help Ease A Migraine
Trying to find out how to ease a migraine at home? Cannot get to your chiropractor? Dr Craig Hindson from Loving Life Chiropractic in Ottawa shares 2 “at-home” techniques both with his patients and now through the power of the internet with you!
Please share this with others this information can being relief until you get checked by your chiropractor or other primary care provider.
The Link Between Migraines and Chiropractic: A Case Study
Migraines. They are characterized by headaches lasting from a few hours to several days, often accompanied by nausea, vomiting, and/or sensitivity to light and sound. Those that have ever experienced a migraine, an estimated 14% of the world’s population1, can attest to the intensely debilitating effect that migraines can have on daily functioning, such as driving or sleeping2. In 2010/2011 alone, Statistics Canada reported that an estimated 8.3% of Canadians (11.8% versus 4.7% of females and males, respectively) were diagnosed with migraines2-that’s approximately 2.7 million Canadians!
Thermal scans of an individual presenting with migraines
How do we get rid of migraines? Most migraine sufferers are simply prescribed ever-increasing doses of pain killers; however, this is only a temporary “band-aid” treatment, and does not tackle the cause. A side-effect of vertebral subluxations (an imbalance in the spine which causes nerve system and structural disturbances) in the upper cervical area of the spine is often a migraine. As such, it is perhaps of no surprise then that regular chiropractic care targeting cervical spinal nerves has been consistently correlated with a reduced severity and/or frequency of migraines3.
For example, a chiropractor, Dr. Erin Ester, reported a case study3 of a professional ice skater who, at the age of 23, fell and hit her head against the ice. She was consequently diagnosed with a concussion. In the ensuing months, she noticed the onset of headaches. Over time, the headaches worsened in both severity and frequency to become migraines. By the time she was 29, she reported that she suffered migraines daily: she woke up every morning with one and when to sleep every night with one. These migraines included regular bouts of nausea and vomiting. Imagine! The previously healthy woman took Tylenol with codeine almost every night in order to sleep through the pain, Ibuprofen several times per week, and Maxalt with every migraine just to function. After 12 years of suffering, she finally turned to chiropractic.
A thorough chiropractic evaluation of her spinal health was performed, including some methodologies that we use here at Loving Life Chiropractic, such as the paraspinal thermal analysis (see picture below). The evaluation revealed evidence of vertebral subluxations stemming from the patient’s upper cervical spine. In order to correct and stabilize the patient’s upper neck injury, the chiropractor thus began performing regular adjustments using an upper cervical technique specifically targeting the locations of the patient’s subluxations.
The result? After only three months of chiropractic care, all headaches and migraines were gone! What’s better, after undergoing one year of regular chiropractic care, all symptoms remained absent.
This case study provides an example suggesting a strong link between concussions, upper cervical subluxations, and headaches; as well as the potential for chiropractic care targeting the upper cervical spinal nerves to treat headaches and migraines.
Do you know someone that has been suffering from headaches and/or migraines? Get the to Call us. We would love to get them checked!!!
REFERENCES
1. Stovner L, Hagen K, Jensen R, et al. (2007). The global burden of headache: a documentation of headache prevalence and disability worldwide. Cephalagia , 27: 193-210.
2. Statistics Canada (2014). Prevalence of migraine in the Canadian household population. Health Reports: Component of Statistics Canada Catelogue (no. 82-003-X), 25(6): 10-16.
3. Erin L. Ester (2003). Upper Cervical Chiropractic Care for a Patient with Chronic Migraine Headaches with an Appendix Summarizing an Additional 100 Headache Cases. Journal of Vertebral Subluxation Research, 3: 1-10.
For a full transcription of the “How to Ease a Migraine Video” check the description at https://youtu.be/FLG_HxqdXqI and while you are there subscribe to our You Tube channel so that you get all our latest video tips and hints!