“Not tonight honey, I’ve got a headache.”  This line permeates my easily humoured mind whenever the word headache comes up, but in fact is a great reminder that for many of you out there, life comes to a complete HALT when a headache shows up: “I feel like my head is being squeezed (in a vice)”, or, “I need a dark room. NOW” are never something to laugh or scoff at.

I have conversations and comments shared about headaches every week in practice, and even outside of that through social connections – I hear a LOT about headaches.  And while they can vary in severity from mild to disabling, the vast majority of headaches shouldn’t have you rushing out to the emergency room.  And the good news is there are natural solutions, treatments, and options to manage your headaches!

Headaches to watch out for…

That being said, there are some Red Flags to be on the lookout for, and should send you to a doctor.  Headache red flags include:

Life can get a little blurry

  • Severe headaches described as the worst headache ever experienced before that only takes minutes to rise to that level ***this is an emergency room exception***
  • Constant headache present in the same location of the head without moving or easing up
  • Headaches with associated fever, chills, weight loss, night sweats
  • Headaches with severe neck pain and sensitivity to light
  • headaches with neurologic symptoms: weakness, numbness or tingling, or visual disturbances
  • Headaches associated with any of the following:
    • sudden numbness or weakness of the face, arm or leg, esp. on one side of the body
    • confusion
    • issues with speaking
    • walking trouble
    • dizziness or
    • loss of balance

Not a short list, right?  The above listed occur rarely enough, but are important to be aware of.

In most cases, headaches can range from annoying distractors to daily office focus interruptors, to painful “friends” most people are very happy to have leave and essentially never return.  Frequencies vary from daily, to monthly, to even more infrequent – but ultimately most people, given the option, would love to never have them again.

Are they common?

That being said, what is the prevalence of headaches?

Stats Canada, in 2014 put out a study with the following abstract, “Based on data from the 2010 and 2011 Canadian Community Health Surveys and the 2011 Survey of Living with Neurological Conditions in Canada, this article provides information about migraine among people living in private households. In 2010/2011, an estimated 8.3% of Canadians (2.7 million) reported that they had been diagnosed with migraine by a health professional. Females were more likely than males to report migraine: 11.8% versus 4.7%. Migraine prevalence was highest among people in their 30s and 40s: 17.0% for women and 6.5% for men. Compared with the national figure, the prevalence of migraine was lower in Quebec (6.8%) and higher in Manitoba (9.5%), Nova Scotia (9.1%) and Ontario (8.8%). Among people who reported a migraine diagnosis, 42% took prescription medication for their condition, and 56% incurred medication-related out-of-pocket expenses.”

But what’s causing my headaches?

When we stop to examine the many causes of headaches, there is a simple and a complex list; simple causes may be dehydration, eye strain from screens throughout your workday (blue light is at play here…), weak eye muscles (aka need for a vision prescription or glasses/contact lenses), lack of sleep and even nutritional deficiencies.

However having recurring headaches is not normal.  The above listed causes can easily be improved upon, yet many people still suffer ongoing without any other options than suggestions to take OTC medications to treat the symptoms, but rarely the cause.

Medical science has proven that many of the common headaches are actually caused by damages structures around the neck which can impact the nerves that go up into the head.  How would this come about?  Poor posture working daily at a computer (laptops especially!), a repetitive work-related task, an old car accident or sporting injury; these events, whether repetitive or singular in nature may lead to pressure on your nerves due to spinal shifts or misalignments, and can lead to spinal degeneration, arthritis, or herniated discs.  These conditions will cause inflammation as well as adding to further nerve irritation.

A pinched or irritated nerve – often causing headaches when irritated at the right spinal level

5 Self-help headache tips/options

Ok, so you want to help your headaches as much as you can yourself?  Good!  Taking on a healthier lifestyle is the first step; without being proactive, anyone you may consult might only achieve less than optimal

results.  Here are 5 tips and methods to help you help your headaches, naturally, as much as possible.  Note: these are considered “on top” of proper hydration, reducing eye strain and checking your vision prescriptions and eye strength

  1. Exercise
    • Proper oxygen exchange, muscle movement, endorphin release, and even a trigger to drink more fluids, exercise has a lot of headache-reducing benefits. BUT – make sure you breathe properly during exertion, otherwise holding your breath may have the opposite impact than you desire.
    • Whether it be swimming for low impact, yoga, pilates, riding a bike, taking an exercise class (weights, dance, gentle movements) or training with weights/a trainer, you’ll automatically release endorphins, one of the body’s greatest natural
    • painkillers.
  2. Essential Oils
    • While some consider this a smelly way to attempt headache relief, they are valid, concentrated compounds from flowers and plants that are biologically active and volatile.  Even the smallest doses can provide large therapeutic benefits.
    • There are many ways to utilize them – consult with a professional first to find the best route and elements to use – whether through direct inhalation, drops into an air diffuser in a smaller room, aromatherapy massage, or direct skin application with a roller.
  3. Acupuncture
    • It’s been shown in numerous studies that acupuncture can provide similar long-term results as medications, minus the side effects.
    • A certified acupuncturist or TCM (traditional chinese medicine) practitioner can walk you through the specifics, but acupuncture looks to balance the energy and flow of energy throughout your body by analyzing and inserting fine needles + gentle stimulation into the skin’s surface (i.e. most
      needles do not go very deep at all) to increase blood flow to “blocked” areas ever so gently.
    • In SOME cases with migraines, where increased blood flow is more a trigger than a benefit, make sure a practitioner knows your chief concerns and symptoms before you commence care.
  4. Herbal remedies
    • These remedies have been tested and validated all around the world for headache treatment.
    • The journal “Headache” published a review of migraine sufferers having relief from a combination of ginger and feverfew.
    • Rhodiola and coriander have also been known to help headache sufferers.
      • Here’s a simple coriander tea recipe:Start by boiling water and then add a teaspoon of coriander seeds. Let it boil for 3 minutes until you can smell the coriander fragrance.  Then simply add in your favourite tea to the water.
  5. Chiropractic Care

I’ve sincerely lost count of the number of headache sufferers who can no longer claim that “title” after successfully participating in chiropractic care.  It’s critically important to note, that successfully

reducing headaches and helping them go away through chiropractic does not mean chiropractors treat headaches – we are trained professionals who identify causes of headaches (amongst many other symptoms and conditions) related to the spine and spinal nerves.

As mentioned earlier, if there is spinal misalignment from any number of causes that happen to put pressure or block communication along specific spinal nerves, headaches can be a resulting condition.  Proper and scientific identification of these misalignments, followed by spinal adjustment-based care to restore the normal alignment and reduce nerve signal interference is most often what enables the headaches to resolve on their own.  In essence, the body with better communication through the spinal nerve network is able to heal itself.  Thus, the body gets to work better and more normally.

Backing it up with science

Here are a few studies corroborating chiropractic’s impact on the body being able to be free of headaches:

The Boline Study showing chiropractic’s effectiveness without almost any side effects when compared to medications:

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/7790794

From Spine journal 2010:  https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2819630/

Earlier evidence and a review of the literature from JMPT 1995: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/8775024

We identify this nerve interference with state-of-the-art neurological testing, Spinal x-rays, and chiropractic neuromuscular testing, after a thorough health history and consultation has happened.

Once identified, a qualified and principled chiropractor will focus on addressing the CAUSE of your headaches (nerve interference) and want to correct the spinal alignment and nerve issues until they stay corrected.  The specific details of a care program are specific to the chiropractor, but if you were to compare and contrast, you should find a consistency amongst the good ones.
So don’t despair, and don’t ignore your headaches – there are many natural options out there to help reduce your headache frequency and intensity.  If I can be of help referring you to a chiropractor in your neighbourhood, please ask!
Dr Josh Gelber