FIND THE ACHE'S ORIGIN
On the surface, headaches seem to come in a variety of forms - throbbing, pounding or stabbing, for instance. Medical doctors give them different names and link them to various conditions. You hear about tension headaches, migraines, trauma headaches, sinus headaches and rebound headaches, for example. We chiropractors believe that all headaches are ultimately caused by one thing - overloading the nervous system.
RESTORE THE FLOW
Consider this analogy. You plug in your vacuum cleaner and you blow a fuse. You've probably got too many appliances plugged into the circuit. The fuse box detects an overload and shuts off the circuit to avoid damaging the whole electrical system. Your body's fuse box is your spine. Overload your system and the weakest vertebra pops out to protect the rest of your body (working much like a circuit breaker in your house's electric system), resulting in ailments as diverse as a headache or a digestive problem.
Your chiropractor resets your nervous system by putting the vertebra back into alignment and restoring normal function of the nervous system. When this happens, your body's innate ability to heal itself is also restored.
This is why so many people choose a wellness approach to health care. Chiropractic - and other wellness systems - seeks to help you become aware of the energy flowing through your body. You also rekindle your body's own innate ability to sense and heal itself.
Increasingly, Meds agree. "Many headaches are caused by damaged structures in the neck," says Peter Rothbart, MD, a Toronto - based pain specialist. Dr. Rothbart's studies reveal that headaches previously thought to be tension headaches or migraines are rooted in neck problems. Because of this, Dr. Rothbart now refers many of his patients for chiropractic.