Controlling Migraines with Upper Cervical Care

If you’ve ever suffered from a migraine headache, you know how helpless and miserable it can make you feel. People who suffer through migraines experience limited mobility, often unable to speak or function normally due to the intensity and duration of the pain. On days like these, some seldom make it out of bed at all.

Along with debilitating pain, migraines can generate blurred vision, dizziness, nausea, and sensitivity to light and sound. A condition with such seemingly random patterns of frequency, duration, and specific triggers can frustrate the best of those who persevere, despite the symptoms.

According to the National Headache Foundation¹, at least 29.5 million people in the U.S. suffer from migraines, and between 70 and 80 percent of those have a family history of the condition. Many turn to traditional medical sources for relief, utilizing strong medications and enduring ineffective and costly treatments in a desperate attempt to eliminate the source of pain.

What’s more, drug therapy, which is usually the preferred choice of treatment for doctors, typically involves side effects, complications with other medications, and in some cases even addiction or dependencies that further incapacitate patients or diminish the body’s natural ability to heal itself.

There are better, more productive treatment options available from licensed, qualified professionals who take the time to assess and treat those who have either exhausted a conventional approach or never considered treatment at all. A lesser-known procedure called Upper Cervical Specific pinpoints and corrects subluxation or misalignment of this critical connection between the neck and spine.

There is an established and documented link between anomalies of the C1 or “atlas” vertebra, the cranio-vertabral area and migraine headaches. The pressure on vertebral arteries and the brain stem can lead to a host of problems and conditions not often recognized by conventional medicine.

Research on the upper cervical spine began in the 1930’s, pioneered by Dr. B.J. Palmer, who devoted much of his life to studying more than 6,000 subjects at his research clinic to better understand how upper cervical injuries affected human health. Today’s select groups of specifically trained individuals who successfully treat patients with safer, more accurate corrections are the beneficial result of that understanding.

An Upper Cervical Specific examination involves more than a simple adjustment or correction. A proper diagnosis involves X-rays and can often involve a situational analysis, including a “headache diary” to determine any conditions, foods, or situations that promote the onset of a migraine episode. Doctors may also consider nutritional and lifestyle changes as necessary to achieve the best long-term results.

In this way, self-care is the final component of an effective strategy to curb and control such headaches. Like other situations that may require medical intervention, all the good intentions of upper cervical care will fail if people do not limit stress, exercise, eat right, and get an adequate amount of sleep.

For a more comprehensive discussion of symptoms, causes, and treatment options, join The Specific Chiropractic Center for this month’s special workshop on migraines to discover a natural alternative to medications and other procedures you may have tried. Our goals, as always, are to eliminate the mystery and confusion behind quality chiropractic care and to promote better overall health.

To find the dates and times of a workshop at a clinic near you, please visit http://thespecific.com/events/index.html.