What are headaches and migraines?
Headaches and migraines both involve discomfort in your head, but migraines are associated with more severe pain. If you have a headache, you might experience:
- Pain on one or both sides of your head
- Pain isolated to just one area
- Radiating pain
- Dull or aching pain
- Throbbing or severe pain
- Seeing an aura with migraines
Headaches might last less than 60 minutes or up to several days without treatment. If headaches are bothersome and occur often, the providers at Nebben Physical Medicine are here for you.
What causes headaches?
Some people are genetically more prone to developing headaches or migraines than others, but certain factors increase your risk. Examples include:
- Skipping meals
- Chronic stress or tension
- Dehydration
- Strenuous exercise
- A concussion
- Hormone fluctuations
- Alcohol or certain foods
- Whiplash or another injury
- Poor posture or spinal misalignment
- Some medical conditions
The team of providers at Nebben Physical Medicine review your symptoms and medical history and complete an exam. They may use blood or imaging tests to diagnose the cause of headaches or rule out certain medical conditions.
What is the treatment for headaches?
To relieve headache or migraine pain, the medical experts at Nebben Physical Medicine might recommend one or more of the following physical medicine treatments:
Chiropractic care
Your chiropractor uses a series of adjustments to realign your spine and relieve nerve pressure, improve posture, ease tension, and relieve headache pain. They may use special hand-held devices to assist them during chiropractic adjustments.
Physical therapy
During physical therapy treatments, your practitioner utilizes functional training and stretching exercises. Doing so strengthens muscles and joints responsible for discomfort, relieves tension, and helps ease chronic pain.
Massage
Your provider may utilize massage to relieve neck, shoulder, or back tension responsible for headache pain.
Trigger point injections
Trigger points, or tight knots of muscles that don’t relax, are common causes of headaches. If this is the case for you, your provider might utilize trigger point injections. They inject anesthetic and steroids into trigger points for fast pain relief.
Don’t live with debilitating headache or migraine pain when you don’t have to. Schedule an appointment with Nebben Physical Medicine over the phone or online to restore your quality of life.
