Tucson Chiropractic Beats Massage for Cervicogenic Headaches

We see a large number of men and women with headaches in our Tucson office, and Dr. Conlee has been able to help many of them. Furthermore, the World Health Organization (WHO) reports that half of all adults deal with some type of headache disorder, so this actually isn’t a surprise. One of the most prevalent varieties of headaches that our patients deal with is cervicogenic headache which, thankfully, chiropractic can commonly help.

What is a Cervicogenic Headache?

A cervicogenic headache is one that starts from problems in the cervical spine. It can be generated by an issue with either the spine itself (particularly, the vertebrae, joints, or discs), or it may be because of a problem in the muscles and tendons of your neck. This dysfunction in your spine creates constriction or irritation of the spinal nerves, which can result in headache pain.

How do you find out if the headache you are struggling with is a cervicogenic headache? Apart from receiving a diagnosis from a healthcare specialist, a common symptom of cervicogenic headaches is tenderness or pain in your neck. This is occasionally accompanied by pain in the back of your head or between your shoulder blades.

Headache Relief with Chiropractic

Seeing that cervicogenic headaches will not subside until whatever issue is causing them is corrected, it is critical to receive treatment rather than just trying to "wait it out." Chiropractic care is an effective solution, and one that offers a considerable amount of headache pain relief.

In one study reported in Chiropractic & Osteopathy, experts looked at 80 people who had frequent cervicogenic headaches. Fifty percent were given chiropractic care and the other 50% underwent light massage therapy. Each participant was examined 12 and 24 weeks after the treatment and it was discovered that chiropractic offered the optimum results.

Specifically, this study noted that chiropractic adjustments offered patients more pain relief and diminished the number of headaches that occurred. What's more, it also minimized the disability that resulted from these painful headaches.

To find out what Dr. Conlee can do for you and your headaches, call us today. We'll do our best to get you the pain relief you need!

References

• Haas M, Schneider M, Vavrek D. Illustrating risk difference and number needed to treat from a randomized controlled trial of spinal manipulation for cervicogenic headache. Chiropractic & Osteopathy 2010 18(9).
• World Health Organization. (2012, October). Headache disorders. Retrieved from http://www.who.int/mediacentre/factsheets/fs277/en/