Suffering from regular headaches can be frustrating and even debilitating. While pain tablets sometimes work, they often don’t provide the necessary relief. In addition, pain tablets only mask the symptoms.
Chiropractic care, on the other hand, can help eliminate the cause of your headaches. If you live in or near Brentwood, MO, Dr. Brenda L. Kingen can provide you with effective chiropractic treatment. For a consultation with her, you can contact the Kingen Chiropractic Wellness Center.
What Causes Headaches?
Headaches come in various forms and have different causes. Sometimes, certain types of food, lack of sleep, changes in hormone levels, or blood sugar changes can cause headaches. However, most headaches, whether they are tension headaches or cluster headaches, are the result of tension in the neck and shoulders.
While neck pain is often a symptom of migraine headaches, dysfunction in your neck joints can cause migraines in patients who tend to get this type of headache. All headaches resulting from dysfunction or tension in the head, neck, or shoulders, as opposed to an underlying medical condition, are called primary headaches.
Symptoms of Different Headaches
If you’re suffering from cervicogenic headaches, which is just a fancy name for headaches caused by neck tension, you’ll experience pain that radiates from the base of your skull into the temples, eyes, and forehead. Pain tablets are ineffective for this type of headache.
Since neck pain is also a symptom of migraines, it’s sometimes difficult to distinguish them from cervicogenic headaches. Often, migraine sufferers also experience nausea and dizziness. Migraines also tend to last longer.
If you’re experiencing a band-like tension around your head, you probably have a tension headache. If you feel throbbing on the back of your head or behind your ears, that kind of headache is called occipital neuralgia and is often caused by pressure on the nerves that travel from the neck to the back of the head.
How Can a Chiropractor Help?
Since primary headaches are often the direct result of tension in the neck and the shoulders, it’s obvious that treating the affected area can provide long-lasting relief. A chiropractor such as Dr. Kingen will first do an evaluation to identify where the tension or dysfunction is located.
Depending on your condition, a chiropractor may choose to relieve tension by massaging the affected area or they may opt to perform spinal manipulation or chiropractic adjustments. In addition, a chiropractor can also help you combat headaches by showing you relaxation techniques and exercises.
If you live near or around Brentwood, MO, take the first step towards a headache-free life by booking a consultation with Dr. Kingen. You can contact the Kingen Chiropractic Wellness Center at (314) 646-0013.