What’s Triggering Your Headaches & When To Seek Care

No matter who you are or how healthy you feel, headaches can happen to anyone. 9 out 10 people across the country suffer from headaches, and in some cases, that occasional throbbing sensation can transform into the kind of pain that stops you in your tracks and takes over your entire day. But what is triggering your headaches?

If your headaches are getting painful or more frequent you might be wondering what’s triggering them, how you can help prevent them, and when it’s time to seek medical care to manage the symptoms. If you’ve thought that chiropractic adjustments were only good for helping back pain, let’s discuss where those headaches are coming from and how seeing a chiropractor could be the best medicine available.

What’s Triggering Your Headache?

There are a variety of different headache types. If your pain comes in fast and hard, lasting only a few excruciating minutes, you might be experiencing a cluster headache. If they bring feelings of nausea or a sensitivity to light or noise, you could be experiencing a migraine instead.

Overwhelmingly, a vast majority of people are confronted with headaches. Typically involving a constant aching and dull sensation on just one or both sides of the head, your headaches might feel as if they’ve nested just behind your eyes and create a tight band of pain around the entire head.

While a headache might last just a few minutes, in some cases they can go on for days and become a chronic condition that presents itself several times a month. If left untreated, the disorders causing the headaches can become entrenched and worsen.

So what’s causing your tension headaches?

The reality is there are a variety of factors that trigger our headaches, and everyone is different. The food you eat, your daily behaviors, and even your working conditions could be playing a role. In many cases, these are a few of the most common tension headache triggers.

• Working behind a computer all day.
• Bad posture or stress on your neck.
• Subluxations in the upper back and neck.
• Not enough water in the diet.
• “Tech neck” from looking down at your phone or tablet for extended periods of time.
• Low levels of iron attributed to dietary consumption.
• Too much stress at work or at home.
• Jaw or dental issues including TMJ.
• Bad sleeping patterns or poor sleep quality.
• Residual impact from a car accident or other trauma.

How To Help Alleviate Your Headaches

When it comes to treating your tension headaches, there are two basic approaches. How to prevent them from happening in the first place, and what you should do if the pain is already setting in.

Most people aren’t thinking about how to manage their headaches until they start to feel the pain creep in. In those moments, it can be easy to think about reaching for a painkiller. While that reaction may offer a sense of momentary relief from the symptoms of your tension headache, they are only numbing the pain for a short while. More importantly, masking symptoms often is similar to putting a piece of tape over your check engine light- driving along to much bigger problems later.

Instead, consider grabbing a big glass of water and a cold compress. Placing a small ice pack or a cold cloth at the base of the neck or over the temples could help reduce the elements that have become your headache. Wellness measures like natural supplements and improved food choices can better position your body to manage the dynamics of a headache.

If you want help preventing your headaches from occurring in the first place, consider these techniques to help manage the stress on your body from internal or external factors:

• Regular exercise. Even just a few minutes every day walking or biking around the neighborhood can make a huge difference
• Getting more sleep at night. If you’re walking around tired all day, you’re all but guaranteed to start feeling the pressure of a tension headache at some point
• Try to eliminate as much blue light from your life as possible. Yellow-tinted glasses and night-mode on your smart devices can help reduce the strain of blue light on your eyes and ensure you get the best rest possible.
• Regular physical therapy including massages or chiropractic adjustments. Even just one adjustment a month can help realign your spin and reduce the tension you might be carrying in your neck and shoulders.

How Chiropractic Care Can Help With Your Headache Symptoms

Here at Grovetown Chiropractic, we know getting an adjustment won’t be the only thing that prevents your headaches from coming back, but we firmly believe they are a very important part of the equation.

Poorly managed pain, chronic pain conditions; pain takes center stage and we come to respect the pain as the problem. Pain almost always has a cause and the CAUSE of the pain is the problem. The truth is, where you’re experiencing pain is not always what is causing the pain. Massaging or adjusting the trigger points in your body that are inflaming the nerves triggering pain can help reduce or eliminate the symptoms of your headaches.

Even more importantly, seeing a chiropractor will give you keen insight into the dietary factors that could be triggering your headaches, and adjustments or natural supplements that can help prevent them from occurring in the first place. Seeing a chiropractor will also help provide stretches and exercise techniques specific to your body that can create long-term relief instead of a quick-fix.

Schedule an Appointment at Grovetown Chiropractic

If you’ve been living with chronic headache pain, we’re here to help.

Dr. Seals and Grovetown Chiropractic proudly serve the Augusta, Grovetown, and Evans communities with care and techniques designed to give you a natural, healthy alternative to managing your pain and discovering the root source of the issues.

Ready to feel the difference? Call 706-400-4333 to schedule your complimentary consultation today or visit our homepage to book online!