If you suffer from a migraine, then you may want to look at chiropractic, which is a safe and non-invasive way to link physical pain differently without using medication. This form of treatment may not work for all migraine sufferers, but it is very ideal for those who cannot use prescription drugs for one reason or another.
The headache that characterizes a migraine is called idiopathic, which means that its main cause is not yet known. There are many theories explaining the possible cause of a migraine attack, which include genetic malformations, serotonin deficiency and an arterial tumor in the skull.
One of the most common chiropractic theories is that subluxations (tense areas in the muscles that connect with the small bones of the upper spine) in the muscles at the base of the skull and neck cause or at least contribute to the formation of migraine headaches. Doctors often skip this because X-rays don't show muscle tension. What the manual therapist does is gently manipulating the spinal cord to relax the subluxations.
There are two types of chiropractic care for migraine sufferers: direct chiropractic care and mixed chiropractic care. The first involves manipulating spinal and spinal subluxations, while lighter combinations of traditional manipulations with other additional methods. Mixed chiropractic care focuses on reducing overall tension and stretching the neck.
A recent study at the Northwestern Chiropractic College in Minnesota, which was published in the journal Manipulative and Physiological Therapy, compared drug therapy with migraine chiropractic. In the study, two hundred and eighteen people were either given medication or chiropractic therapy. Both groups demonstrated a 40–50% reduction in headache pain at the end of the study.
However, four weeks after all types of treatment were discontinued, only the chiropractic-assisted group still enjoyed no pain.
