Migraine headaches affect an estimated 38 million Americans, with 91% of those patients reporting that their daily lives are affected by them. Migraines are debilitating. Different than an "average headache," migraine headaches can not only cause pain but affect vision, sensitivity to light and noise, seeing spots or "halos," tingling on one side of the body, increased sense of smell, nausea, vomiting, dizziness, all with no relief from pain medications. Migraine sufferers often are debilitated during an attack and miss work and other daily activities. With little to no relief from prescribed medications, patients have been turning to alternative therapies during migraine attacks as well as preventative measures to increase time between attacks. Every day your brain is making about 500 milliliters of spinal fluid that acts like the blood for the brain and spinal cord. Once this fluid is made in the brain, it is transferred out of the skull, down the spinal cord, all the way down your spine, where it finally gets pumped back up to the brain. This fluid is very important as it delivers essential nutrients to your central nervous system. When a subluxation or misalignment is present in the top bone of your neck (called the Atlas or C1) due to its attachments to the brain, it can pull the cerebellum partially through the skull. The result is that spinal fluid will not be able to escape the brain, causing a back flow of spinal fluid. This back flow will cause swelling and will eventually cause damage to the small blood vessels of the brain, resulting in a migraine headache. A recent research article published in the journal Headache: The Journal of Head and Face Pain reviewed chiropractic care specifically for effectively treating and preventing migraine headaches. Researchers found that chiropractic adjustments significantly reduced migraine headache frequency as well as reduced symptoms during a migraine attack. Specifically an upper cervical adjustment have been proven to reduce frequency of migraine headaches in one month by 8! Read about this study here https://nucca.org/blog/chronic-migraine-sufferers-find-significant-improvement-nucca/. Our office specializes in upper cervical chiropractic and the NUCCA technique and we are experts at helping to manage migraine headache attacks by taking a multi-disciplinarian approach to your care. Don't suffer any longer with these awful headaches...we are here to help!
Yours in Health,
Dr. Nicholas J. Knutson, DC
Owner/Doctor
MOUNTAIN ISLAND CHIROPRACTIC
10917 Black Dog Ln., Suite 101
Charlotte, NC 28214
Tel (704) 394-8556
Fax (704) 395-8556
"If you laugh, you think, and you cry, that's a full day. That's a heck of a day. You do that seven days a week, you're going to have something special." JV
Woodfield, H. Charles, III. “Effect of Atlas Vertebrae Realignment in Subjects with Migraine: An Observational Pilot Study.”
Rist, P. M., ScD, Hernandez, A., MS. Bernstein, C., MD, Kowalski, M., DC, Osypiuk, K., MS, Vining, R., DC...Wayne, P., M., PhD. (2019). The Impact of Spinal Manipulation on Migraine Pain and Disability:A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis. Headache: The Journal of Head and Face Pain, 59(4), 532-542. doi:10.1111/head.13501
