Headache: Your Body Out of Balance

Headaches are a distress signal, your body telling you something's out of balance. Pain relievers may temporarily turn off the alarm switch, but usually don't put out the fire. Your chiropractor, however, can diagnose your type of headache - often tension or migraine - treat its underlying physical causes, and help you learn how to prevent headaches in the future.

It's Not All In Your Head

You may feel the pain's all in your head. But your headache probably started with a spinal misalignment in your neck, which must balance and move your head with "ballerina-like" control. Poor posture, such as during long, stressful commutes, can lead to misalignments, triggering a tension headache. Or stress and certain substances, like coffee or cigarettes, can trigger a migraine headache.

Getting to the Root of Headaches

Your chiropractor can help you get to the root of your problem. He or she is specially trained to evaluate and treat spinal problems, including those leading to headaches. Your chiropractor can help relieve your pain with spinal adjustment and related treatment, such as ice packs. You also can learn what to do to prevent future headaches, such as sleeping with good posture.

Anatomy of a Headache

Headache is more than just an ache in your head. It involves other parts of your body, too. At the core of your problem may be your spine, which often gets pushed out of alignment by poor posture or injury. Like wobbly, unbalanced building blocks, even misalignments in your lower back can throw off the stability of your upper back and neck. this may eventually lead to a tension or migraine headache. Certain substances, such as caffeine, alcohol, or cigarettes, can also contribute to migraine headaches.

Your Head and Neck in Alignment

Like a willow that bends in the wind, your spine's three natural curves give your body the flexibility it needs to withstand stress. Good posture keeps your spinal curves aligned. When your cervical curve (neck) is aligned, surrounding structures, like spinal nerves, perform their jobs more smoothly because they aren't stressed or irritated.

• Vertebrae are movable bones that protect your spinal cord and nerves when properly aligned. Joints between vertebrae allow movement.

• Nerves leave your spine through openings in your vertebrae. Unless they're irritated, they send the right signals to all parts of your body.

• Muscles work together to support your spine and to move and support your head and neck. Unless they're stressed, they are flexible and relaxed.

• Blood vessels carry nutrients to your head and neck tissues, giving them the "fuel" to work well. Nerves tell vessels how wide to open and close.

Tension Headache

Tension headaches are the most common kind of headache you can get. Although stress and fatigue can make them worse, or trigger the onset of pain, a tension headache often starts with misaligned vertebrae. This misalignment may irritate a spinal nerve, setting in motion other physical problems, like tightening muscles, and causing the steady, "viselike" pain of a tension.

Migraine Headache

Migraine often begins with misalignment either restricting blood flow into your head or irritating a spinal nerve. This nerve irritation upsets your autonomic nervous system, which controls unconscious functions like narrowing and expansion of your blood vessels. Foods that narrow blood vessels (vasoconstrictors) or expand them (vasodilators) can also trigger migraines.