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Are Headaches Normal? Here’s What We Can Do To Help.

I worked with a patient today who experiences headaches daily – she thought that was normal.

She is not alone in this thinking. It’s important to say; headaches are NOT normal. Yes, they are common but they are not normal.
Experiencing headaches are your body’s way of letting you know that something isn’t right.
Think of it like the dashboard in your car when a light comes on, what do you do?
 
Do you keep on driving and hope the light will eventually switch off or do pull over and call the garage to figure out if it’s safe to continue driving?
 
I’m almost certain that most would have it checked by their mechanic as soon as possible.
 
For many people headaches are something that occur again and again and they take over the counter medication to manage the pain. Sadly, they never think to look to find the cause of the problem. This isn’t their fault, they may not know who or where to go to for help.
 
The GP might advise to drink more water, which is a great idea, but the only other thing they can recommend is to take painkillers. But I think we can agree that longterm that’s not a good idea. (Read this article here to find out more about the longterm damage of taking pain meds)
 

The most common trigger we see for headache sufferers is when bones at the top of the neck end up out of place. 

When we look at the neck from the side it should have a nice strong curve. But if you have experienced any trauma where those bones have been shifted out of place cutting off the nerves in the spine this can cause headaches.

 
As well as that the latest research shows that if the mid back (thoracic spine) bends too much it can also cause headaches.

Typically we see this on those with desk jobs where they lean in poor posture over their desk or those who spend a long time on hand held devices such as phone or tablet. (See here about text neck)

You can check your own posture in the mirror. 

Taking a neutral standing side position take a look and see if your hip and your shoulder line up. 

If your hip is shifting forward or back then you need to connect with a chiropractor. If you’re not near our office in Ballincollig in Co. Cork please reach out and we can recommend the best Chiropractor for you in your area.

If you’re looking for headache relief, it’s time to stop taking pain killers and tackle the real problem. 

When you take over the counter painkillers it may reduce the symptom but that problem remains. Each time you have another episode it becomes all that more permanent.

What do we look for if you’ve had a history of headaches or migraine?

The first thing we do is take a whole health history. We need to understand everything you have been through to get to this point.

Then we need to know what you’ve done up to now to take care of things and then it’s our job to work out where the breakdowns happening. We do this through a series of tests, scans and postural analysis.

We check the curve of the neck. Through life the curve can flatten and our head shifts forward. The curve can straighten and even reverse and this puts additional stress and strain on the spine.

Headaches are an early indicator our bodies give us as a warning to correct it.

The early steps are to reduce the inflammation. We do this using gentle adjustments to help restore the neck curve.

The sooner you address and correct the root cause the more likely you are to have a full recovery and get back to living a pain free life.

If we can help in any way please email me here on the page or call the office on 021 487 8465.

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Dr. Benjamin Martin is a Chiropractor and speaker on Health and Wellbeing. Ben is regularly called on to discuss health topics and chiropractic on radio, tv and press. His promise is to adjust and educate as many families as possible towards optimal health. His work changes lives and has restored people's quality of life.
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