How a Chiropractor Helps With Migraines
If you suffer from migraines, you’ve probably tried everything you can think of to find relief from the pain. However, one avenue you may have overlooked is talking to a chiropractor. Chiropractors for migraines offer an array of natural treatments that can help you find the relief you need faster than traditional treatments. By using a variety of massages and adjustments, they can help release the tension in specific muscles that may be contributing to your migraine pain.
At Flex Chiropractic in Columbia and Lexington, SC, it is our mission to help our clients heal their bodies through natural methods. With our wide variety of alternative therapies, we can help you find the right ones that bring the migraine relief you’ve been looking for. Read through some of the techniques we use to help you find relief, then contact us to schedule an appointment!
Understanding Migraines
A migraine is characterized by recurring headaches that are accompanied by a throbbing pain that can last from 4 to 72 hours. The pain may be mild or severe and usually affects one side of the head more than the other, but not always. By the time people reach their mid-forties, the likelihood of having migraines increases dramatically. Currently, it is not clear what causes the symptoms of a migraine. However, it has been suggested that migraines may be caused by a lesion in the region of the brain called the posterior hypothalamus. This area helps regulate stress levels in a normal person and when it is damaged by an injury as small as a pimple, people often see changes in their personality and mood.
While there are a variety of medications and treatments you can use to relieve the symptoms of a migraine, there are a variety of benefits you can get by choosing chiropractic care as your main form of treatment.
These benefits include:
- Safe and Effective Treatment
- Less Reliance on Medication
- Faster Relief
- Get In and Out Faster Than With Your Primary Care Doctor
- Address the Problem Instead of Masking it With Drugs
- Long-Lasting Relief
Neuromuscular Massage
Migraine sufferers can experience intense pain, nausea, vomiting, and sensitivity to light and sound, making it difficult to perform normal everyday tasks. To keep these debilitating symptoms from forming in the first place, regular neuromuscular massages can be a great option. Using a neuromuscular massage, also known as trigger point therapy, your local chiropractor will focus on applying slow and targeted pressure to the muscles and nerves in the back, shoulders, neck, and head, where the pain from a migraine typically resides. Getting these muscles to relax can improve blood flow and relieve stress, helping to alleviate the pain and symptoms a person is suffering from.
By relaxing the muscles, a person may find it easier to maintain better posture which can also help prevent migraines from starting. This is a gentle, non-invasive treatment that can be performed relatively quickly, allowing chronic migraine sufferers to get back on their feet faster.
Myofascial Release Massage
The myofascial tissue is what connects your muscles to your joints and bones and provides support to your organs by keeping them in place. Because it is spread throughout your entire body, myofascial release therapy can help with many different types of pain. It has been shown to be effective for back, neck, shoulder, and lower back pain as well as other muscle-related issues. These are the key areas that hold tension that can contribute to migraine pain, which is why myofascial release is so effective at providing migraine relief. This is a hands-on technique that locates areas that feel stiff instead of elastic and moveable under light manual pressure. These areas are not always near the source of pain, but by stretching and manipulating the muscle fibers, this massage can release tension in the body that, in turn, brings migraine relief.
Lifestyle Changes and Education
One of the biggest benefits you can get by going to a chiropractor for migraines is insight into how your lifestyle may be causing or worsening your symptoms. Your diet, sleep cycles, and amount of physical activity can all contribute to your migraine pain. If you suddenly started having regular migraines, you might ask yourself:
- How much caffeine have I been drinking?
- When was the last time I got some fresh air?
- When did I last wake up feeling well rested?
- Have I been skipping meals?
When you visit Flex Chiropractic, we’ll discuss your lifestyle to find changes that you can make in your daily life. Sometimes, even small changes are enough to reduce or eliminate your migraines altogether. It is important to stick with these changes and make them a regular part of your life to ensure their continued effectiveness.
Migraine pain can be debilitating and prevent you from getting the most out of life. Relying on medications and other forms of traditional treatments only masks the pain, rather than getting to the root of the problem. By choosing chiropractic care, you can get faster relief and potentially find the root cause of your pain. Through a variety of massage therapies, spinal adjustments, and lifestyle changes, a chiropractor can help you get rid of your migraines for good through natural means. If you’re looking for a chiropractor for migraines that can help you find a more natural form of relief, then visit one of the South Carolina offices of Flex Chiropractic! Contact us today to learn more!
Blog, Chiropractic Medicinemassage professional, myofascial therapist, neuromuscular therapist
