After hours of staring at your computer screen, you start counting down to when you can clock out and go home. By quitting time, you feel that familiar dull ache wrap around your head. You’ve been getting tension headaches more often lately, and you’re running out of over-the-counter pain medication. Is there any other way to deal with this problem? Where can you turn for help?
Believe it or not, your chiropractor may be able to resolve the problem! While some other forms of headaches need to be addressed with a physician, tension headaches can be treated and prevented by this expert in alignment.
What’s Special About Tension Headaches
Not all headaches are the same. While some make you feel nauseated or vomit, tension headaches don’t. They often start off mild and grow in intensity. Other kinds can hurt you at specific points in your head, but tension headaches tend to be dull and can last for days at a time. Many patients describe this kind of pain as though a band were being wrapped around their head. This specific kind of headache can also manifest just behind the eyes.
Causes of Tension Headaches
When you experience a headache, you initially might think that’s where the problem is—your head. In some cases, such as migraines, headaches are the result of blood vessels in the brain. However, tension headaches often occur because of subluxations in the upper spine. Basically, subluxations are vertebrae that are out of their usual, delicate alignment. When this happens, the vertebrae put pressure on the nerves along the spine.
What causes these subluxations? Vertebrae can be become misaligned either through an injury (such as whiplash in a car accident) or by chronic bad head posture. The muscles in your neck and upper back bear the weight of supporting your head, but when they are forced to sustain your head in awkward positions, it strains these muscles and can cause subluxations.
Treating Tension Headaches
Since the problem with tension headaches often doesn’t originate inside the brain but in the neck and upper back, an experienced chiropractor can help alleviate your pain. They can make muscular and spinal adjustments, removing the pressure on the nerves and helping your body revert to its proper alignment. To help you avoid pain in the future, your chiropractor can also teach you healthy sitting and head posture, as well as exercises and stretches for keeping your neck and upper back loose.
Tension headaches don’t have to make it more difficult to live your life. By addressing the causes of the problem with a chiropractor in Richardson, you can function better, and with their helpful posture advice, hopefully the clock won’t seem quite as slow!
About the Author
At AlignRight, Dr. Zinovy Chukhman has been practicing for about 20 years. He has received all 4 parts of the National Board of Chiropractic Examiners and NBCE Physical Rehabilitation certification and is experienced in treating neuromusculoskeletal conditions and personal injuries patients. If you struggle with tension headaches, Dr. Chukhman can provide the treatment and expertise to overcome the problem. Want to set an appointment? Contact AlignRight through his website or call 972-907-2800.
Follow