Have we got it all wrong?
Have you seen those advertisements? You know the ones, where they offer a painkiller as a remedy for ‘normal’ headaches. These advertisements have been incredibly successful in convincing many of us into reaching for painkillers automatically as soon as we feel a headache coming on. This very effective advertising has been so successful that people have been known to say the strangest things to us.
When we ask if a patient suffers from headaches they will often reply, ‘Only the normal amount.’ Well how many is that? One thing is for sure; whoever or whatever created this amazing organism that we call the human body did not design our heads to have ‘normal’ headaches.
But however much we may raise our eyebrows at the commonly held belief that headaches are ‘normal,’ the truth is that we continue to hear the phrase, ‘I don’t get any more headaches than the average man in the street.’ Society in general has been well and truly indoctrinated into believing that it is quite normal to suffer from head pain and that the way to deal with that head pain is to reach for a painkiller instead of looking for true health and prevention.
Headaches come in many forms and can have a massive impact on our lives. Patients have come to us for help having not worked for years because of debilitating headaches. It is one thing to take a painkilling tablet once every now and again but if you need to take them more often then it is important to find out why.
What is it that causes headaches?
There are some obvious causes such as excess alcohol, stress, toxic fumes, lack of hydration, response to a change in medication and bad posture, but very often the cause is malfunction of the spinal bones in the neck and upper back. This is sometimes caused by nothing more than the things that we do as part of our everyday lives. As we live a more sedentary lifestyle more and more people are reporting headaches.
When these bones are misaligned pressure can be put on sensitive nerves causing painful and sometimes crippling headaches. Pain in the form of headaches is a signal to tell us that something is wrong. Headaches are a form of warning sign. Painkillers can cover up this warning signal in the same way that taking the batteries out of a smoke alarm would stop it from making a noise, but taking out the batteries would not put out the fire!
Painkillers may give temporary relief but they do nothing to address the underlying cause of the problem. Finding and correcting the cause is the only route to long term relief of painful and incapacitating headaches.
In a thorough consultation and examination, including X-rays if deemed necessary, a doctor of chiropractic can often find the underlying cause and, through a schedule of chiropractic adjustments, correct the cause of those headaches.
Neck injuries caused by a fall, sports injury or whiplash caused by a car accident can also cause spinal misalignment leading to severe long term headaches that can require a series of chiropractic adjustments in order to remedy the condition.
Whatever the cause of your headaches, painkillers are rarely, if ever, the long term solution. If you or any of your family, friends or work colleagues are suffering from recurring headaches we would recommend that you consult a doctor of chiropractic as soon as possible.
Simply call us on the number below to make an appointment as a New Patient today and make those headaches a thing of the past.
