Migraine ranks among the top 10 debilitating illnesses on the planet — it comes in at No. 6. Emergency rooms throughout the country treat people with acute migraine pain every 10 seconds.
More than 4 million Americans deal with migraine attacks 15-plus times a month, making it a chronic condition responsible for 157 million missed workdays and costing $136 billion in health care expenses and lost wages.
That’s the bad news. The good news is that migraines are treatable and often preventable.
Here at reNu Medical & Injury Center in Newark, Delaware, our team of neuromuscular specialists can help you get to the bottom of your migraine attacks so you can reduce their frequency and intensity.
Chiropractic care might not be the first thing you think of when a migraine hits, but Dr. Matthew DeFroda explain why you should rethink your approach to migraine treatment and explore the benefits of spinal manipulation.
Migraines explained
Although the cause of migraine headaches is not clear, the things that trigger migraines are well understood. If you think that sounds like a contradiction, you’re not alone. Many people are confused about the difference between a cause and a trigger.
Migraine is a neurological disorder that affects your brain chemicals and nerve paths. Scientists don’t know exactly what causes some people to have this disorder, although it does run in families and is much more prevalent in women than men.
If you have this disorder, your attacks may be triggered by a variety of things, including:
- Food or food additives
- Caffeine
- Alcohol
- Smoke
- Stress and tension
- Lights
- Sounds
- Smells
- Hormones
- Lack of sleep
- Weather changes
- Medications
Even pain elsewhere in your body, like your neck and back, can trigger migraines.
What migraines feel like
Different from a regular headache (even a really bad headache), which constricts the blood vessels in your brain, a migraine dilates your blood vessels and sets off a chain reaction of inflamed tissues and neurological symptoms.
Common signs of a migraine are:
- Seeing an aura of light and other visual disturbances
- Nausea and vomiting
- Hypersensitivity to light, sound, touch, and smell
- Tingling and numbness in your face or extremities
Migraines typically last for several hours, but can go on for up to three days. Most of the time, the pain is on one side of your head or the other, but bilateral migraines do occur in about a third of sufferers.
The pain is debilitating and often leaves you feeling drained and weak for up to 24 hours after. If you experience frequent migraines, there’s no reason to endure the pain and suffering, not to mention the decreased quality of life and missed work and social events. We can help.
How chiropractic care can ease migraine pain
Because chiropractors specialize in treating neuromuscular disorders, we are often able to help patients find real relief from a migraine, which is, afterall, a neurological disorder.
By correcting misalignments and irregularities in your spine, we can potentially help you decrease the frequency and severity of your migraine attacks, which can allow you to cut back on medications.
Our team’s goal is to combine targeted chiropractic therapy to:
- Optimize your nervous system’s communication
- Relieve muscle tension
- Reestablish normal blood flow
- Alleviate pressure and irritation of nerves that may send pain messages to your brain
- Stimulate your body’s own healing properties
We combine spinal manipulation with nutritional counseling, physical exercise, and migraine education to equip you with the tools you need to ward off migraines when possible and manage the symptoms when you have an attack.
In addition to chiropractic care, we also offer therapeutic massage as a compliment to your treatment plan. This comprehensive, holistic approach gives you alternative options to medications, or at least a way to decrease your need for them.
To find out more about how chiropractic care can alleviate some or all of your migraine pain, call or click to set up a consultation with our migraine experts.