Oh, My Aching Head

Headaches and neck pain image.

It’s back again ~ that all too familiar throbbing pain in your head. You suffer from them regularly, but do you know what actually causes your chronic headaches?

The pain you feel when you have a headache is not located in your brain, even though it feels that way. The pain is actually sensed by nerve endings located in your head and neck. Many types of events, inside and outside of your body, serve as “triggers” that can bring on a headache. Knowing what most often triggers your headaches can help you avoid them.

The most common triggers are emotional (stress, anger, anxiety), food-related (eating processed foods such as perserved sandwhich meats, alcohol, nuts and dairy products), hormonal (birth control pills, menstruation, menopause), environmental (noise, air travel, changes in temperature or humidity), or physiological (illness, skipping a meal, overtiredness).

A study, conducted by Dr. Eisenberg at Harvard University, reported that chiropractors are the most common alternative health provider consulted for headache pain. Chiropractors are trained to locate and correct misalignments in the vertebrae in the upper spine and neck. These misalignments put pressure on adjacent nerves ~ pressure that can cause your headaches.

So, instead of reaching for the headaches pills the next time you feel a headache coming on, call our practice and have your spine checked instead!

 Dr. Liz Asks some important questions of interest to Kennewick residents - Chiropractor Kennewick Dr. Liz Asks...

Can chiropractic relieve PMS?
If you have subluxations, especially in the lower spine that impair nerves that direct and monitor the reproductive and hormonal systems, chiropractic could be helpful. Undetected subluxations may also be responsible for pelvic pain, incontinence, sexual dysfunction and even infertility. Maybe chiropractic can help. Find out!
Is a muscle spasm a cause or an effect?
With the knee-jerk use of muscle relaxers, you'd think it was a cause. But it's an effect. Chiropractors know that bones don't move unless muscles move them. And muscles don't contract unless commanded by the nervous system. That's why your nervous system is the focus of our Kennewick chiropractic practice.