Can osteopathy help treat migraines? YES! Osteopathy is a highly effective treatment for headaches and migraines.
Headaches are unfortunately very common, and there are many types and causes. Some people can suffer from more than one type.
"Tension Headache" is along term muscle tension in the shoulder and/or neck may result in a tension headache. Often associated with stress, worry, overwork and daily anxieties.
Even more debilitating are migraines!!
Definition of a Migraine Headache
A migraine in the majority of cases, is a painful sometimes disabling headache that is preceded or accompanied by a sensory warning sign (aura), such as flashes of light, blind spots or tingling in your arm or leg. Migraine pain can be excruciating or even incapacitating for hours or even days. A migraine is also often accompanied by other signs and symptoms, such as nausea, vomiting, and extreme sensitivity to light and sound.
Cause of Migraine
A migraine headache is caused by dramatic changes in the blood vessels in the neck. The vessels or ‘pipe’, take fresh blood to the brain. Dysfunctional signals from nerves and hormones (chemicals) force the pipes that deliver blood to the brain to contract and then dilate. The first phase, or contraction phase, may last minutes, hours, or days. During this phase, symptoms can be spots in front of the eyes, difficulty concentrating, and cold fingertips and hands. This is called an “aura”. Many people recognize this phase of their headaches; many others don’t at first notice any symptoms but can learn to recognize it.
When the blood vessels dilate, the headache pain starts. The blood vessels over-react. Instead of just going from a contracted state back to normal, they dilate much wider than normal. This forces blood into the head faster than it can drain out, causing pressure on the brain and a release of certain chemicals and lots of pain.
There are a number of different processes that can cause the dysfunctional imbalance of chemical messengers and nerve signals leading to a migraine. However, as different as many migraine sufferers situations may be, the main cause of the mixed signals which cause the problem is a misaligned neck bone. The blood vessels to the head live in the neck. There are channels inside each neck bone to house and protect the pipe that delivers the blood to the brain. If each of the seven neck bones is aligned in sequence the pipe is well protected and the brain’s blood supply comes in hard and fast when in need of extra oxygen and steadily at rest. However if one bone is out of sequence, and it is surprisingly always the same bone on every migraine sufferer, the pipe is kinked. We all know from hose pipes that a kink in the pipe causes a huge increase in pressure. In gross simplification, this is akin to what causes migraines.
Some forms of migraine can stem from irritation of the nerves close to the neck vertebrae or may be triggered by muscle tension.
Treatment
Osteopaths and massage therapists are trained to diagnose the cause of your headache. In some cases you may need to be referred elsewhere for medical profession intervention. In severe cases, our Bio-Structural Integration™ process will include all the elements of the problem, including the muscle tension, and we will work with you until all the issues are resolved as well as possible.
Because migraines occur in a two-phase process, with levels of certain chemical signals high in one phase and low in the other phase, treatments can either miraculously help or occasionally make the headache worse, depending on timing. Typically migraine sufferers will find sleeping on one side more comfortable than the other side, and this is also because of the misaligned neck bone.
As we know that the majority of headaches are caused by tension and poor posture, Bio-Structural Integration™ is ideally placed to provide treatment and relief in these areas. Prolonged muscle tightness in the neck leads to the joints and nerves compressing which causes pain. Movement of fluids, particularly blood and lymph also become restricted. Poor circulation affects oxygen delivery to the brain and prevents waste product removal – this also creates pain and discomfort.
Pain killing drugs used to treat the headache do not deal with the cause and so do not bring the improvement that Osteopathic manipulation and treatment can offer.
The Science of It
Embryologically, the head and the first and second cervical vertebrae (neck bones) are formed by the first and second cervical segment. (Your skull and first and second neck bone are made from the same piece.)
As they originate from the same segments they ought to have some relationship between them. So any abnormality at the level of the first and second cervical vertebrae can give rise to pain in any part of the head, the temple and the forehead. As it happens elsewhere, local pain at the level of the cervical vertebrae may be completely absent and the patient may complain only of a headache.
Bio-Structural Integration at Osteoklinika
At Osteoklinika our goal is not only to relieve pain but to treat pathological changes that occur in the tissues of the body that led to discomfort, inflammation and restricted range of motion. This approach addresses many musculoskeletal conditions down to the cellular level, therefore speeding up recovery. We call it the method of Bio-Structural Integration™. Our objective is to find the source of the problem, correct it and allow the body to return to a normal physiological balance and this can occur at any age! It is not too late to turn it around! Please call me at 905.660.8810 or visit my website at www.osteoklinika.com. - Andrew Subieta, M.Sc. R.M.T. C.L.T.
