Chiropractic can relieve headaches as well or better than many medications says a new study.

Ask a chiropractor about headaches and they can tell you about the many cases of patients who significantly improved after experiencing chiropractic manipulation. Most patients who experience frequent chronic headaches can often give you a long list of the medications that have taken for temporary relief.

There have been many studies that show patients who experience chiropractic manipulation are safely relieved of their chronic pain, often for long periods of time.

There is a definite mechanical basis for most headaches, and often migraines have mechanical triggers as well. If you are having a painful problem that is mechanical in nature, how can you solve it using a non mechanical solution such as pain medication? A reasonable person would say you cannot.

A recent study in the Journal of Headache which was a review of the past literature had found that Manual therapy has an efficacy in the management of chronic tension-type headachethat equals prophylactic medication with tricyclic antidepressant. In other words, chiropractic manipulative therapy is at least as effective in relieving chronic headache pain as with some of the more common headache medications 1.

When you consider that the medication merely works on the chemical basis of the pain, rather than the mechanical cause, the effect of the medication will wear off. Chiropractors are more likely to look at the entire body, rather than just a portion of where it hurts. Most patients have no idea as to why the headaches exist, and they just want relief… fast.

Due to the recent problems with overuse of medication, the side effects when long term and the overall cost, a safe mechanical solution is even more important, especially if it can actually resolve the problem that causes the headaches in the first place.

Common reasons for chronic headaches may include

1. Lower back problems or sacroiliac dysfunction. The pelvis can distort and exert tension into the shoulders and neck.

2. Bruxism or teeth grinding. This is common with people who are under stress as well as people who are missing rear molars in their mouth.

3. Upper thoracic segmental dysfunction. This usually involves shoulder joint malfunction, shoulder capsule problems and even lower back problems can causes segmental dysfunction in the mid back, which causes the neck to strain. In order for the neck to move properly, the mid and lower back must also function properly, or the neck will feel tight and constantly strain, especially while sitting.

1. Chaibi and Russell The Journal of Headache and Pain 2014, 15:67