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Headaches or migraines are frequently associated with disorders of the cervical (neck) spine. In many cases tight knots in the muscles of the neck, called trigger points, can refer pain the in the head region. A chiropractor will always examine the alignment of the neck and tissues of the neck when considering the cause of headaches and migraines. When cervical vertebrae are misaligned or not moving properly, the nerves and blood vessels in that are irritated and can cause a dull ache or throbbing sensation. Of course there are other factors which cause headaches such as, toxic fumes, foods, additives like MSG, caffeine and stress. Chiropractic adjustments have been proven very effective in the treatment and prevention of headaches.

“The results of this study show that Spinal Manipulative therapy is an effective treatment for tension Headaches. . . Four weeks after cessation of treatment . . . the patients who received Spinal Manipulative therapy experienced a sustained therapeutic benefit in all major outcomes in contrast to the patients that received amitriptyline therapy, who reverted to baseline values.”

– Journal of Manipulative and Physiological Therapeutics, Boline et al. (1995)
A study on the number of treatments patients received versus the degree of Headache pain associated with Neck dysfunction and pain showed:

“… substantial differences were found between subjects getting 1 (treatment)/week and with those receiving either 3 or 4 treatments/week. Improvement was substantial in magnitude compared with baseline for the higher dose groups. Comparable differences between groups were found for Headache disability at 12 weeks. There was also a considerable reduction in the number of Headaches in the group having a larger number of visits….Larger numbers of visits produced greater benefits.”
– Hass, et al, (2004), Journal of Manipulation and Physiological Therapeutics

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