Headaches are a fixable an ailment that are far too commonly just accepted as a fact of life. 47% of adults experience some form of headache. This problem is so ubiquitous that migraines alone cost between $13-17 billion dollars last year. Despite the cost physically, financially, psychologically, people don’t often go any further than the medicine cabinet to control it.
Pain IS NOT NORMAL! This is as true for headaches as any other form of pain. If you are in pain, you should do something about it. Medication offers temporary relief, sometimes, and it comes at a cost to your wallet and your liver. Taking medication doesn’t fix your problem it masks it. Sometimes these headaches are trying to tell you something important. Critical ailments like hypertension, herniated discs, tumors, and hemorrhages can all present as headaches. These are not the most likely cause of any headaches you’ve been experiencing but knowing that it is a possibility is a worthy consideration.
More likely than not the headaches that you experienced are something that could be avoided or even abolished with the right interventions. Headaches fall into two categories, primary and secondary. Primary headaches like tension or migraine are a cause onto themselves and aren’t caused by something else. Secondary headaches are the result of some other condition. 15-20% of all headaches are the direct result of neck pain. Half of people who experience headaches will have a cervical spine condition, and 47% will experience TMJ issues at the same time.
If you are experiencing headaches you need to be screened from your head down through your thoracic spine to search for all the potential conditions and/or mechanical deficits that may be contributing factors. Common culprits are poor posture and the 1st rib being elevated and impacting the structures that normally pass by unimpeded. There are multiple superficial nerves that may be irritated that can cause a cascade of inflammation leading to headaches. Stress and tension from the cervical musculature can impair blood flow or joint kinematics enough to cause headaches. Importantly the TMJ and its musculature can cause headaches through any combination of pressure, joint mechanics, and nerve impingement.
The good news is that physical therapy is often able to provide a long-term solution to the problem of headaches. Through a combination of manual therapy, therapeutic exercises and activities normal tissue mechanics and quality can be restored to reduce or eliminate reoccurrence. Utilization of modalities such as dry needling, kenesio tape and electrical stimulation nerves can be calmed and control restored, silencing another cause of headache. Improving dysfunction at the TMJ not only improves the headache situation, but often improves sleep quality, and reduces damage to the teeth from clinching, grinding, etc.
Take back your quality of life, your time, and your well-being. Come visit us at Invoke and let us help you deal with these headaches once and for all. We have the tools technology, and experience to evaluate, assess, and treat whatever may be the cause or your headaches, and will give you the tools to avoid or manage them in the future.
