“Oh, you have a headache? We can remove the cervical disc
that is herniated to get rid of the headache.” Well, that’s one approach
medicine offers and uses. (1,2) Vancouver Disc Centers prefers a more non-surgical,
conservative, gentle approach to relieving headache pain for Vancouver
headache pain patients. Chiropractic care may be a relieving option for
headache pain sufferers.
There are different types of headaches. And the Delphi Study which is an
international group of physicians studying headache have set forth a set of
eleven key tests for clinicians to use when examining musculoskeletal issues in
headache patients. (3) Interesting!) Cervicogenic
headache is the headache type that stems from the cervical spine and its
structures. The cervical facet joints, muscles, tissues and discs may be
influential factors. (4, 5) Researchers have even pinpointed a specific part of
the cervical spine motion segments that degenerative disc disease affects and
leads to headache: the dorsal part or posterior or back part of the segment. Vertebral
joints that are out of line and osteophytes or bone spurs that grow into spaces
they aren’t supposed to be in cause neurological irritations and compression of
the vertebral artery. This leads to pain. Further, there are position dependent
headaches which become more painful by extension and rotation of the cervical
spine. (6) Degenerative disc disease causes cervical spine nerve root compression
and might induce headaches. (7) Cervical facet arthropathy and occipital
neuralgia lead to headache, too. (8) The cervical spine is involved in
cervicogenic headache. Vancouver
chiropractic care at Vancouver Disc Centers is a non-invasive approach to relieve cervicogenic headache
pain as opposed to medical options for Vancouver cervicogenic headache pain relief.
What does medicine offer for headache pain relief? Surgery,
facet joint injections (4,7), and drugs to combat headache symptoms and
pain. One set of researchers warns that
clinicians should be careful to remember that medical procedures that destroy
structures in pursuit of relieving pain may well produce unwanted side-effects and conditions like neuroma or causalgia “that
may even be hard to control than the original complaint.” (9) Cervicogenic
headache sufferers must be aware of this when choosing their care. Vancouver chiropractic care at
Vancouver Disc Centers offers chiropractic, non-surgical spinal manipulation in its
approach to headache relief.
In addition to other recommended non-invasive approaches to
headache relief like strengthening exercises (10), patient education,
relaxation, mindfulness, yoga, etc. (11), chiropractic care for cervicogenic headache
pain relief adds spinal manipulation. Chaibi reports that chiropractic is as
effective as drugs for migraine headache relief. (12) The Bone and Joint Decade
Task Force on Neck Pain and Its Associated Disorders by the Ontario Protocol
for Traffic Injury Management (OPTIMa) Collaboration recommends manual therapy (manipulation with or
without mobilization) for relief of cervicogenic headache. (13) Hanson
et al are delving into a large scale study of just how many sessions of spinal
manipulation therapy are effective for cervicogenic headache relief. (14) Chiropractic
spinal manipulation is the cutting edge approach to cervicogenic headache
relief today as evidenced by the research direction of headache relief. And chiropractic spinal manipulation in the form of Cox Technic as used at Vancouver Disc Centers is the gentle, research-documented type that Vancouver neck pain, arm pain, and headache patients love.
Is it time then to contact Vancouver Disc Centers about your Vancouver
cervicogenic headache? It is. It’s certainly a good starting point or step
before going through a surgery to remove a disc in an attempt to relieve
headache. Vancouver Disc Centers looks forward to setting a personalized Vancouver
chiropractic treatment plan with you.