Muscle Tension Headaches

Many things can cause a headache: strong smells;intense lights; sinus trouble; high blood pressure; dental problems; ear, eye, or vision conditions; fevers; infections; tumors; seizures; lumbar punctures; alchoholic drinks; drugs; accidents and other causes. You can get a headache just worrying about all the things that cause them. And that leads us to the most common headache of all: the muscle tension, worry or "stress" headache that makes up 90% of all headaches.

What puts the ache in headache?

The ache in headache does not come from the brain. It's true! Your brain can feel no sensation. Even during brain surgery the patient is often wide awake feeling no pain, even when talking to the doctors while his/her brain is being tampered with ( a local anesthetic numbs the scalp). What puts the "ache" in your headache? Veins and arteries inside the brain and skull, membranes that wrap around the brain and skull, membranes that wrap around the brain, and certain nerves in the head called the cranial nerves. When these are pulled, stretched, compressed, irritated, inflamed, or infected headaches often result.

Treatment

Headache treatment depends on what caused it. A headache arising from visual problems can often be cured by eyeglasses. An infection headache of the sinuses or ears is relieved when the infection subsides. But the most common headaches are usually treated with painkillers. The hundreds of millions of dollars spent each year on everything from aspirin and Tylenol^TM to prescription drugs may provide blessed relief, but please remember - the pain may be gone but the cause of the headache is not corrected. That's why we may see millions of people swallowing pills for years,  possibly suffering from the side effects of long term medication - and not getting any better, only temporarily feeling better. Surely, that's not a healthy way to live.

The Chiropractic Approach

Millions of headache sufferers are turning to the natural, drugless chiropractic approach to health. Chiropractors are the only healing professionals who are trained to analyze and correct the silent killer known as the vertebral subluxation complex (VSC)-a spinal distortion that can damage your nerves, inflame your tissues, cause muscles to tighten and knot, weaken your body, cause fatigue and set the stage for sickness and disease. It is truly a hidden epidemic.

The Chiropractic Checkup

Just as you may have a cavity in your teeth and be unaware of the damage it's causing, so the VSC may be causing serious harm to your body-sometimes for years-without your knowledge.

Using his/her hands, X-ray, and other instruments to analyze your spine, the chiropractor will determine if you have VSC. Then, using special techniques, your chiropractor will perform a chiropractic spinal adjustment to correct the verterbral subluxation complex, removing the nerve pressure and spinal distortions.

To Restore Itself

Remember, the purpose of chiropractic spinal adjustment is not to treat headaches but to remove the nerve and spinal stress caused by the vertebral subluxation complex. This permits your body to restore itself to a greater level of health and wholeness-in effect, to better heal itself.