Migraine headaches afflict many people, with symptoms that include severe pain on one side of the head that can last for days and can include nausea and sensitivity to light. Migraines are marked by periodic, usually one sided, pulsing headaches. They tend to begin in childhood or early adulthood. While many treatments address the symptoms, chiropractors address the cause of the pain.
Classic migraines are associated with experiencing a preceding aura, which consists of episodes of well-defined, transient focal neurological dysfunction. Visual symptoms include seeing spots, stripes, lines or blind spots. Other related symptoms are light sensitivity, mood changes, fatigue, difficulty thinking, depression, sleepiness, hunger, thirst, urinary frequency, nausea or vomiting. Common migraines have a similar onset with or without nausea but and aura is not experienced.
Migraines are a debilitating symptom for which medical science is unsure of the cause. Natural chiropractic treatments have been successful for many migraine sufferers. Chiropractors view migraines as caused by pressure on nerve endings in the head resulting from a chemical imbalance in the brain. Since the brain controls the entire body's function through the nervous system, any interference effects the body. If any spinal bones, which protect the nerves, get misaligned, there is a negative effect on the body's systems. Muscles attached to spinal bones overreact and become spastic and irritated because the nerves stretch and become traumatized. Headache pain can easily result from these imbalances.
By making sure the vertebrae are moving correctly, the muscles that support the head are relieved of stress and spasms to reduce or eliminate pain.
