Headaches and Posture
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Houston Area Chiropractor Comments: Have you ever glanced at your reflection in a storefront window or mirror as you walked by and noticed your posture? Scary, isn’t it? We all know that we should stand up straight but we soon forget when we get busy and stop thinking about it.
Poor posture is often due to years of standing slouched and this bad “habit” usually starts at a young age. Just look around when you’re in an airport or shopping mall and notice the many people 
have poor posture. In fact, people’s posture may reflect their attitude – if they’re happy, sad or depressed. Poor posture may be related to self-consciousness, especially during adolescence. It is also genetic as we frequently see a “trait” throughout family members with similar postural tendencies.
The most common postural fault associated with headaches is the forward based head and shoulders. From the side, it appears that the head is significantly forward relative to the shoulders, the upper back is rounded forward and the shoulders are rolled forwards and rotated inward. One exercise that helps reduce this postural bad habit is tucking in the chin and pretending a book is balancing on top of the head. The objective is to not allow the book to slide forward off your head and land on your toes!
It takes approximately 3 months of CONSTANT self-reminding before the new “good habit” posture becomes automatic, so be patient. Soon you’ll “catch yourself doing it right” without thinking about it.
Frequently, posture is faulty lower down the “kinetic chain.” The first link of the chain is the feet and the last link is the head. Since we stand on two feet, any change in that first link or the feet, can alter the rest of the chain, especially areas furthest away – the head, resulting in headaches. For example, if one leg is short, the pelvis drops, the spine shifts (scoliosis), the shoulder drops and the head shifts trying to keep the eyes level. A short leg usually needs to be managed with a heel lift, an arch support or combination of both to properly treat the headache patient.
Most health care providers EXCEPT Chiropractic Physicians typically ignore these issues. Chiropractic Doctors are specifically trained to analyze posture and correct it. You can depend on our clinic for up-to-date treatment approaches such as these.
Dr. Ward Beecher practices at Beecher Chiropractic Clinic at 1001 Pineloch, Ste 700 Houston, TX 77062. You can schedule an appointment at BeecherChiropractic.com or by calling (281) 286-1300. If you have any questions regarding this blog, please comment below!
Headaches and Different Management Options
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Houston Chiropractor Comments: Headaches are one of the more common conditions that enter the offices of primary care physicians, including chiropractors. The standard medical treatment revolves around the use of medications and/or injections. The standard chiropractic treatment approach includes manual therapies that may include spinal manipulation or adjustments, manual or mechanical cervical traction, mobilization techniques, trigger point therapy, physical agents or modalities such as electrical stimulation, ultrasound, etc., and nutritional counseling. While both approaches have their pros and cons, there are far less side effects associated with the chiropractic treatment option.
Headaches can generally be classified as primary or secondary. Primary Headaches include Migraine, Tension, and Cluster. Secondary headaches occur because another condition or injury is present such as after a car accident or slip and fall injury, due an infection, a sinus, jaw, and/or dental condition, a vascular injury such as stroke, a medication side effect, psychiatric disorder and others.
Treatment for patients with headaches is dependent on the cause. Choosing a type of health care service for the treatment of headache can be a difficult choice. When considering the use of complementary and alternative medical approaches available to patients with chronic tension-type headaches, a recent report revealed that 40% of 110 patients surveyed utilized some form of an alternative/complementary medical approach. The most frequently utilized was chiropractic (21.9%), followed by acupuncture (17.8%), and massage therapy (17.8%).
If you find yourself frequently utilizing over-the-counter medications such as an anti-inflammatory drugs (ibuprofen: Advil, Nuprin; Naprosyn such as Aleve) or Tylenol, it is probable that the chiropractic management approach will benefit your headache condition.
Frequently, in patients with headaches, the vertebrae in the upper neck lose their normal range of motion and the muscles in that region that attach to the base of the skull become overly tight and squeeze or compress the nerves that feed into the head. This results in radiating pain over the top or around the head, sometimes into the eyes. Chiropractic care can make it easier for you to move your head and neck forwards, back, rotate or twist, and side bend. This, in turn reduces the muscle tension and nerve pinching, which reduces headache pain.
Dr. Ward Beecher practices at Beecher Chiropractic Clinic at 1001 Pineloch, Ste 700 Houston, TX 77062. You can schedule an appointment at BeecherChiropractic.com or by calling (281) 286-1300. If you have any questions regarding this blog, please comment below!
The Importance of Correctly Diagnosing Your Headache
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Clear Lake Chiropractic Clinic Comments: All good doctors know the importance of getting an accurate diagnosis of a patient’s problem. But why is correctly diagnosing a headache so important? It’s important because without knowing what is the disease or injury, the treatment cannot be directed to the actual problem.
Unfortunately, when it comes to headaches, many patients do not receive an accurate diagnosis. If a patient were to see a doctor with a pain in the head and the doctor were to conclude that you have a pain in your head (headache), this tells little about the actual problem. In headache patients, we’ve become very good at labeling problems-giving them a name. If the headache comes and goes we call it episodic. If it occurs suddenly we call it acute, and if it occurs over many years we say it is chronic. But are these labels really helpful?
The reality is everyday people show up in doctors’ offices, obtain cursory examinations and walk out with a prescription for their head pain. Not all doctors do this, of course, but with the time constraints of managed care and the insurance company oversight, a doctor’s visit is just not what it used to be. When was the last time you had a house call from a doctor? Of course, the worst case is when a patient acts as their own doctor, sees an advertisement for a pill and does the diagnosing himself or herself!
In chiropractic, we may also label your headache as tension-type, migraine or chronic, but a good chiropractor will not stop there. The label does not give much of an indication of what needs to be done, and more importantly we still do not know the CAUSE of the pain. Clinical experience and research over many decades has shown that many headaches are actually caused by injuries to the neck and spine. But if a doctor does not examine the neck, they may not discover these hidden injuries. Sometimes an astute doctor will take a history and it may be discovered you had a whiplash or other neck trauma, months or even years earlier. This is important information to get at the cause.
We take a comprehensive approach to headache treatment at our clinic. A detailed history about the location, duration, and quality of pain is followed up by a thorough physical examination, especially of your spinal column. We may also order imaging tests such as x-rays to see the positions of the individual vertebrae in your neck.
The normal neck has a forward curve or arch, which keeps your head upright and directly above your shoulders. When this curve is lost, the patient’s head is thrust forward in the classic “bad posture” stance. Making sure your neck is both flexible, and in good postural alignment, is critical to maintaining good health.
Dr. Ward Beecher practices at Beecher Chiropractic Clinic at 1001 Pineloch, Ste 700 Houston, TX 77062. You can schedule an appointment at BeecherChiropractic.com or by calling (281) 286-1300. If you have any questions regarding this blog, please comment below!
Some Headache Causes and Solutions
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Clear Lake City Chiropractor Comments: There are many people who frequently suffer from headaches, even on a daily basis. Many feel this is “normal.” In fact, when they come in for treatment, they may not even bring it up and only after asking if they have headaches, do they then discuss it, acting as if everyone has headaches. Others are completely debilitated and can’t go to work, drive a car, or even leave the house due to the intense pain and pressure, as if their head might explode.
When patients come to my office, I’ve found it is very important to take a very thorough health and family history. 
I find patients frequently tell me important clues to the cause of their headaches. For example, if one of my patients indicates that she has had headaches, as long as she could remember and the family history includes her mother having headaches that were debilitating and an MRI revealed that part of her brain stem extended down into the upper part of the neck, this would prompt an MRI of the patient which could reveal a similar finding. Another example is a patient with headaches that occur only at the time of one week prior to menstruation. This may lead to the trial of several nutritional vitamin / herbal approaches aimed at reducing fluid retention or build up that frequently occurs pre-menses. Other causes have included traumas from car accidents, slips and falls, sports injuries, and other activity related causes. In these cases, examination may lead to a diagnosis of abnormal biomechanics in the cervical spine and chiropractic treatment addressing these findings may prove very satisfying. Other causes may include stress and/or psychological conditions that required co-management with mental health practitioners and/or their primary care physicians. The combined efforts of medication and chiropractic treatments are most satisfying for these patients.
In general, the cause of headaches are usually multi-factorial and therefore, the most effective treatment is a multi-dimensional approach in which chiropractic treatment methods are, in most cases, the most important contribution to the successful management of headaches. Chiropractic treatment approaches include spinal manipulation, mobilization, muscle release techniques such as trigger point therapy, longitudinal and /or transverse friction massage, massage therapy, manual and/or instrumental traction, physical therapy modalities including ice/heat, electrical stimulation, ultrasound, low level laser therapy, diet and nutritional counseling, and stress management. Co-management needed for some patients can be arranged through this office and may include primary care physicians, physical medicine and rehabilitation physicians, pain management, rheumatology, internal medicine, neurology, physical therapy, as well as acupuncture.
Most important is that you feel confident that if you, your family or friends require treatment for headaches, our office will provide you with a comprehensive approach most likely to bring about a very satisfying outcome or result.
Dr. Ward Beecher practices at Beecher Chiropractic Clinic at 1001 Pineloch, Ste 700 Houston, TX 77062. You can schedule an appointment at BeecherChiropractic.com or by calling (281) 286-1300. If you have any questions regarding this blog, please comment below!
