Welcome to your Chronic Headache guide!
You’ll get the most out of this free, informative guide if you take some time to read this from start to finish and take notes that apply to you.
This guide is designed to help you understand what is likely causing your headaches to be able to find the best solution for you to overcome your headaches.
If you have suffered for a long time and tried many different treatments, you can either surrender to suffering with headaches or explore this guide and find out if there is anything here that is different from what hasn’t worked for you.
The world of Chronic Headaches can be a complex and frustrating environment, but if you keep your mind open, you will discover that because nothing has worked thus far doesn’t mean that nothing will work.
Combine the information in this beginner’s guide for Chronic Headache Sufferers to explore a different approach with an open mind, and you will become someone who is able to overcome your headaches in no time!
The Basics of Chronic Headaches
Don’t worry, we won’t make you go back to school, but a little lesson in anatomy is needed for you to engage with the strategies to overcome your headaches.
Have you ever heard of the Suboccipital Region of the neck? The Suboccipital Region is both a critically important and often neglected area when evaluating chronic headaches.
Further, this area is important for a number of reasons:
- The average (and you are by no means average) head weighs 9 to 11 pounds and this weight has to be balanced on top of the relatively small neck.
- Every inch the head moves forward effectively adds another 9 to 11 lbs that the small muscles of the neck have to hold up.
- Modern life with smartphones and tablets has most of us looking down repeatedly through the day.
- There are 3 pairs of nerves that exit the suboccipital area and travel into the head.
7 Beginner Steps to Overcoming Headaches
Using this guide to Overcoming Headaches, you can follow 7 steps to start down the path to relief.
Step 1. What is Causing Your Headaches
Step 2. Is Your Neck Out of Balance?
Step 3. Suboccipital Muscles
Step 4. Suboccipital Nerves? Are they involved?
Step 5. How Much Weight are you Holding Up?
Step 6. How Does Your Neck Move?
Step 7. Finding Professional Help!
Please don’t worry if these steps don’t make sense. We’ll be making sure to simplify this so that you get a good understanding by the time you read the last step.
Step 1. Headaches 101
We’ll start you off the right way.
You’ve just arrived at Headache Relief University, and you’re a true beginner. Learn all about correcting headaches, what is most important, and all the basics you need to get started in the right direction.
Why is understanding all the ins and outs of headaches important for getting rid of your headaches anyway?
The reality is that headaches are often more complex than they seem and in reality the vast, vast majority originate outside of the head. Much like other areas of the body, the pain we experience starts somewhere else.
To put it simply, determining the cause of the headaches is essential to be able to craft an effective treatment plan because without knowing that you simply cannot expect improvement.
This means the absolute first step in evaluating headaches is to determine as best as possible what are the likely causes. Unless you have a cause you simply cannot craft an effective treatment plan.
Step 2: How to Determine if Your Neck is Out of Balance
First, you have to start with the neck or cervical spine. We’ve already established that the typical head weighs 9 to 11 pounds, so any imbalance will dramatically increase tension in the neck.
Here’s how to get a baseline assessment of your neck. It will help to have someone assist you. The best you can do is have someone take some pictures with your phone. Take these two pictures:
- Take a picture at the height of your head looking straight at you.
- Take a picture from the side with you looking forward.
Studies have found a relationship between forward head posture and neck pain and headaches. Other studies have focused on head posture and migraines.
Here’s how to evaluate if your neck is out of balance:
- Look at the picture from the front (or look at yourself in a mirror): use the corner of your eyes or the bottom of your ear lobes as reference points. Is one side higher than the other? If so there is likely a misalignment in your upper neck.
- Look at the picture from the side. The center or opening of your ear should be directly over the center of your shoulder. Every inch your ear or head is forward is increasing the stress to your neck by 9 to 11 pounds.
Any imbalance from the front or the side is an indication of imbalance and misalignment in your neck and upper back.
It doesn’t mean this is causing your headaches although it is a pretty good indication that something is off and at minimum it is contributing.
What it does mean is that you need more in depth evaluation from a corrective care chiropractor. At Life Chiropractic in Grass Valley here are the steps we use to evaluate the cervical spine:
Evaluate Posture like Above
First, I start with someone in front of a mirror and look at the balance of their hips, shoulders, and head. Even though the problem is headaches, if we don’t level the foundation (pelvis) of your 24 bone spine it is much harder to correct headaches.
Here’s an idea of what it looks like:
To do this, you’ll want to have someone take a few pictures.
Once you evaluate any imbalances from the front and side then the next step is to assess the muscles of the neck, specifically the muscles at the base of the skull.
Here’s a link to get my Complete Headache Relief Guide.
Related Post: 3 Secrets for Headache Relief
Step 3. The Muscles that Hold Up Your World
The very top bone in the neck (C1) is called the Atlas. Remember Greek Mythology?
Atlas was the god that held up the world. Your head sits on the Atlas so it essentially holds up your world.
If you don’t get your upper neck in alignment, balanced, and moving freely you don’t stand a chance at overcoming your headaches.
At Life Chiropractic in Grass Valley my approach is corrective. If I were to see you my goal is to restore balance to your pelvis and spine, correct misalignments, and restore healthy motion.
Yes, if your issue is headaches I put greater focus on your neck, especially the very top; but I also start at your foundation and make sure we restore as much balance as possible.
You can get a sense of your suboccipital muscles and whether they are working overtime in an attempt to hold your head in balance.
Do This:
- Take your index fingers or thumbs. Find the back of your skull and move down until you feel the edge of the bottom of your skull. Apply some gentle pressure as you slide your fingers along the ridge of your skull from outside to the middle.
- Do you fee; any tight bands or something that feels rope-like? If you do these are the very small suboccipital muscles in spasm.
- Push into these muscles up into the base of your skull. Is it tender or sensitive? That’s another indication of imbalance in the upper neck.
Step 4. You’ve Got Nerve! Suboccipital That Is!
You really can’t evaluate the nerves coming out of the top of your neck by yourself. You need a skilled corrective care chiropractor.
But, if your head is out of balance posturally.
And, if the suboccipital muscles are tight.
You can bet you are pinching and irritating the suboccipital nerves which exit from the upper neck and travel into the head. There are 3 pairs of nerves, on both right and left sides.
One pair travels into the back of the head and is often involved in occipital headaches in the back of the head and upper neck.
Another pair travels into the temples and leads to temporal headaches.
And, the third pair travels over the head all the way to the forehead, contributing to front headaches.
Find a bump in the center of the back of your skull right above your neck. Come down to the base of the skull and push into the skull as you work your way from the center to each side. Do you feel some really tender ropey areas?
Those are likely the suboccipital nerves.
Step 5. How Much Weight are You Holding Up?
Are you starting to understand how complex the upper neck is and how many ways it can influence headaches?
When we are talking about stress to the joints and muscles of the neck we are talking about leverage.
Here’s how I explain this sometimes at Life Chiropractic in Grass Valley.
I’ll ask someone what they would say if I offered them $100 to hold a 5 pound weight for 5 minutes. They always respond with an enthusiastic yes. Then I let them know they have to hold the weight away from their body with their arm parallel to the floor. Their enthusiasm sinks!
Here’s another simple test.
Lower your shoulders now! Can you do that? If you can, it’s an indication of excess stress and tension through your neck and shoulders.
Up until now we’ve focused on the upper neck, but the mid and lower neck and shoulders are also important. The muscles of your shoulders attach to the base of your skull.
Do you sense or feel tension in your neck and shoulders?
Much of that is because of your imbalance and the excess stress to your neck. I already told you about how every inch your head moves forward adds the equivalent of another head to the weight your muscles have to hold up.
That gets tiring after 5 minutes like the 5 lb. weight. Imagine how it feels after months! You already know….neck pain and tension, shoulder tension, and…..headaches!
Step 6. How Does Your Neck Move?
How well your neck moves is an indicator of a lot of other things going on with your neck from alignment to restriction.
Take this simple test and note any directions you feel restriction or tightness or discomfort.
Sit down looking straight ahead and…
- Look up to the ceiling. Can you easily without tightness or discomfort look up to the ceiling? Do you feel restriction or discomfort? Can you easily see the ceiling right above you?
- Turn your head to the right and look behind your right shoulder. Do the same to the left. Were they the same? Were either or both restricted?
- Stand in front of a mirror and bend your head to the side like you are bringing your ear to your shoulder. Do it to both sides. Can you move about halfway down? Is one side tighter than the other side?
It’s most important how the individual joints are moving but this gives you a good idea if there are any restrictions in your neck.
Remember, the three important things we want are:
- Balance
- Alignment
- Mobility
One or two without the other will only get you partial if any results.
Related Post: Social Media Post Are You Out of Balance?
Step 7. Finding Professional Help
If you have read this I’m assuming you have had headaches for some time with some frequency.
A recent patient of mine came with complaints of arm and hand numbness. She marked headaches on her intake form and when I asked if she experienced frequent headaches she said no but when I inquired more she noted that she has headaches 2 or 3 times a week.
That’s what I consider chronic regular headaches! You shouldn’t have to live with headaches.
If you’ve suffered with chronic or recurrent headaches then by definition they are not self-limiting, meaning the body has been unable to correct the underlying imbalances.
For that you need some professional help.
Assuming your headaches are mechanical and neurological as most headaches are, corrective chiropractic care is your best bet.
Make sure to find a chiropractor specializing in correction. Look at the language on their website. Speak to other people. Look for someone who evaluates you each and every visit as opposed to doing essentially the same adjustments each visit.
Other than corrective chiropractic some other professionals that can help are:
- Craniosacral therapy
- Myofascial deep tissue therapy
Do I need to see a chiropractor?
Let me ask you a counter-question or two.
How much are your headaches costing you in enjoyment and energy?
What are you missing out on or not participating in fully because of your headaches?
Are you taking medications regularly for your headaches? All medications come with a cost!
Then you bet your bottom dollar, you have to find someone with the experience to help you.
If you’re serious about overcoming your headaches, we recommend that you get the professional help you need. The longer you wait the more challenging it becomes to correct a longstanding pattern of imbalance.
About Life Chiropractic
Here at Life Chiropractic, correcting chronic problems like headaches is the name of the game. Headaches were one of my problems when I first encountered chiropractic many decades ago. It made such a profound difference in my life I eventually decided to commit my life to helping others with chiropractic.
We like to take people like you, who are suffering with headaches and show them there is another option, that it is possible to greatly reduce or eliminate their headaches.
Don’t believe us? Check out our Google Reviews to see what others have to say.
We truly believe the body is intended to function without headaches and the solution for most people is much safer than relying on medications.
You can schedule your first visit to Life Chiropractic in Grass Valley here: Schedule Here