Nine out of ten Americans suffer from headaches that range from the occasional stress-induced headache to debilitating migraines. What can you do if you suffer from headaches? Are painkillers the only solution out there? Or could it be that a chiropractor helps headaches the same way they can help stress with their spinal adjustments?

If you suffer from headaches, there’s no need to just grin and bear it and hope that it goes away sooner rather than later. A chiropractor helps headaches in a non-invasive way that can get to the root cause of your headaches, providing relief not just now, but potentially even in the future, depending on what triggered them. Here is what you need to know about how a chiropractor helps headaches. 

What Causes Headaches?

There are many different types of headaches, the same way there are many different causes for headaches. A small percentage of headaches result as a warning symptom for more serious medical problems, while the majority of headaches are the problem in and of themselves. These are called primary headaches, since the headache is the primary concern, rather than an underlying physical problem that is manifesting itself in the form of headaches, amongst other symptoms. 

Most primary headaches are tension, migraine, or cluster headaches, and a chiropractor helps headaches of these varieties by treating the neck. Primary headaches generally don’t result from diseases, but rather from tension in the body, such as muscular tension in the neck. Some other triggers of primary headaches include: specific foods, things such as caffeine withdrawals, environmental stimuli such as stress and lights and noises, and behaviors, such as insomnia or changes in your blood sugar or too much exercise. 

How A Chiropractor Helps Headaches?

More and more, chiropractors see people who suffer from headaches as a result of their lifestyles. Many people work desk jobs or are otherwise sedentary the majority of the day. The more time you spend in a fixed position, the higher the likelihood of muscular tension in your neck, as well as your back and scalp, and the more irritated your joints are likely to be. A chiropractor helps headaches in a variety of ways that are designed to ease this tension and treat your headaches.

Some of the ways a chiropractor helps headaches include:

• Manual therapy
• Soft tissue therapy
• Rehabilitation
• Lifestyle changes
• Education about how lifestyle can affect headaches
• Electrical stimulation
• Acupuncture
• Ultrasound
• Referrals/co-management

Most often, a chiropractor helps headaches through performing chiropractic adjustments that alleviate the stress on your nervous system and improve the function of your spine. Usually, if you have headaches, it results from tension in your neck, which your chiropractor will perform an adjustment on in order to alleviate, although it can result from tension in your back, as well. Sometimes, vertebrae that are out of alignment can put stress of your nervous system, which results in headaches. 

A chiropractor helps headaches in natural, non-invasive ways that can not only treat your current headache, but also prevent future headaches, especially if they resulted from spinal misalignments. Additionally, if your headaches are being triggered by lifestyle choices, such as certain foods, your chiropractor helps headaches through advising you on changes that you can make in order to fix these issues.

Plus, many headaches result from sedentary lifestyles, poor posture, and the like. A chiropractor helps headaches through giving you advice on your posture, exercises you can do to alleviate stress and tension on your body, and relaxation techniques. These can also help to prevent future headaches, if they resulted from issues such as these. 

Preventing Future Headaches

As you can see, there are many ways a chiropractor helps headaches, since many headaches result from stress and tension. If you’re trying to prevent future headaches, a chiropractor can help with this too. The American Chiropractic Association (ACA) has several suggestions for how you can prevent future headaches, such as:

• Taking a break to stretch and move every half hour or hour of work
• Low-impact exercise
• Avoiding clenching your teeth
• Staying hydrated

It’s no secret that lifestyle changes can do a lot to prevent future headaches, especially if yours is fairly sedentary. Some changes you can make include:

• Alleviating stress as much as possible
• Working on maintaining good posture
• Not spending too much time on your computer or phone
• Eating well
• Sleeping well
• Avoiding excessive noise or light

Once you are able to uncover the root cause of your headaches, it’s that much easier to prevent future headaches. Grant Chiropractic can help treat your headaches, as well as provide you with advice on how you can work to prevent future headaches. For more information on how a chiropractor helps headaches, or to schedule your first appointment, please don’t hesitate to contact us today!

Everyone’s spine curves a little bit, but sometimes said curve goes beyond the normal amount. The curvature of your spine is what keeps your head positioned over your pelvis and is what helps to absorb any shock from the stress the biomechanics of moving place on your spine. If your spine is curved too much, so that it starts to look more like a C or an S, then this can result in a number of problems, since it impacts how your spine is meant to function. 

This is called scoliosis, and while there is no known cure for it, there are treatment options available which can help. Chiropractors help scoliosis in a number of ways. Here’s what you need to know about scoliosis and the variety of ways that a chiropractor can help. 

What Is Scoliosis?

As mentioned above, scoliosis is when your spine curves in a way that isn’t normal. It’s a sideways curvature that generally is mild, and most people who have a mild case of scoliosis can go about their lives as normal. In more severe cases, though, as the curve of your spine becomes more and more abnormal, this leads to escalated risk for other health issues. While scoliosis most commonly affects the lower section of your back and chest, it is possible for it to impact any area of your spine. 

What Are The Signs Of Scoliosis?

We say signs of scoliosis rather than symptoms because more often than not, there aren’t any symptoms with scoliosis. Some of the potential signs of scoliosis include:

• Uneven shoulders
• Uncentered head
• Uneven waist
• Rib cages at different heights
• One or both of the hips raised or unusually high
• The entire body leans to one side 
• One side of the back is more prominent when bending over
• Dimples, abnormalities in color, hairy patches, and other differences in the look or texture of the spine over where the spine curves abnormally
• Clothes hanging unevenly
• And of course: the spine curving more to one side than the other

Though scoliosis typically doesn’t come with symptoms, it can, especially if it progresses into more severe cases. Some of the symptoms of scoliosis include:

• Back pain
• Shoulder pain
• The spine feeling weak or tired after sitting or standing for an extended period of time
• Persistent pain from increased wear on spinal bones
• Breathing problems
• Spine or nerve damage
• Spinal fluid leakage
• Lower self-esteem from the changes in appearance as scoliosis progresses to become more noticeable
• Muscle spasms

Scoliosis generally develops gradually, and it can go unnoticed, especially since mild cases don’t usually come with pain. However, it can get worse over time, so if you suspect you or your child may have scoliosis, it’s best to go to a doctor to have it diagnosed so you can get it treated. You may also see a chiropractor, because chiropractors help scoliosis with their expert knowledge of the spine and joints. 

What Causes Scoliosis?

Scoliosis is one of those medical issues that we don’t know much about yet, aside from what it looks like and what it can do. Generally, it seems like there’s something in the genes that can put one at higher risk for developing scoliosis, as it’s a condition that tends to run in families. There are other potential causes for scoliosis too.

There are three types of scoliosis: idiopathic, congenital, and neuromuscular. 

• Idiopathic scoliosis is the most common kind, where the potential causes of scoliosis have been eliminated from diagnosis. Aka: we’re not sure why your spine is curving abnormally, but it is.

• Congenital scoliosis is when there’s an embryological malformation in the vertebrae of your spine, and since it occurs during fetal development, it’s easier to diagnose earlier in life. 

• Neuromuscular scoliosis refers to scoliosis that goes hand in hand with neurological and/or muscular diseases, such as cerebral palsy. This type generally progresses faster than the others and is most likely to require surgery in order to treat.

There are several risk factors that make one more likely to develop idiopathic scoliosis, such as: age (scoliosis typically starts in adolescence), sex (girls are more likely than boys to have scoliosis that progresses from mild to needing treatment), and family history (as mentioned before, it could have something to do with genetics, although many children with scoliosis don’t have a family history of it). Generally, chiropractors help scoliosis, especially if it is mild, but depending on the cause, you could need more invasive treatment. 

How Is Scoliosis Diagnosed?

Scoliosis can be diagnosed through physical examinations, such as a doctor or chiropractor inspecting your spine and having you bend over in order to see if one shoulder protrudes more than the other, and the like. It can also be diagnosed with exams and tests such as x-rays, MRIs, CT scans, and spinal radiographs. 

Treatment Options

The treatment options available to you depend on your specific case of scoliosis. For instance, if you’re still growing, that impacts the treatments that may be recommended to you, as can how severe the curve is, its location, and how likely it is to worsen. Depending on the factors impacting your case, it may be recommended that:

• It simply be observed to monitor it for any potentially progression from mild and not painful to worse.
• Bracing, which is best for adolescents, as it improves the curvature of the spine.
• Surgery, in severe cases where other treatments aren’t enough.

Chiropractors help scoliosis too, mostly in mild cases. If you need your scoliosis diagnosed or confirmed or treated, chiropractors help scoliosis in a number of ways, from diagnosis to suggesting treatment options and more. 

How Can Chiropractors Help Scoliosis?

As mentioned above, there are several ways chiropractors help scoliosis. It’s important to choose a chiropractor who is educated about scoliosis, though, as some chiropractors aren’t aware of how chiropractors help scoliosis differs from simple spinal manipulation and can worsen it. 

Since scoliosis involved the spine being curved out of proper positioning, chiropractors help scoliosis through decreasing the pressure on your spine, suggesting exercises to strengthen your body’s body as well as methods to move that can relieve pain and help joint support, help you breathe easier, and provide ideas on ways that you can stay active without causing the scoliosis to progress. 

Chiropractors help scoliosis with natural, non-invasive methods that help you manage it and get stronger and better equipped to deal with it. If you’re looking for treatments that don’t involve drugs or invasive procedures, chiropractors help scoliosis in ways that don’t include that, making them a great option for treatment of mild scoliosis. 

If you want chiropractic help for scoliosis, look no further! Grant Chiropractic offers expertly trained chiropractic care that is non-invasive and drug-free. We know the way chiropractors help scoliosis differs from a typical chiropractic adjustment, so there’s no need to worry about us making your condition worse. Contact us today to set up an appointment!

You know how people say they can predict the weather just from aches in their joints? While there’s no scientific evidence to back up such claims, it is true that aches and pains are heightened by colder temperatures, which is one of the reasons why there is an increase in neck pain in the winter. It’s why so many people dread the colder months, because they don’t want to have to deal with neck pain in the winter. Luckily, there are steps you can take to both reduce your risk of and to alleviate neck pain in the winter.

Why Neck Pain Increases In The Winter

Maybe you can’t predict blizzards, but cold weather does exacerbate neck pain in the winter for a number of reasons. Many of them have to do with how our bodies react to plummeting temperatures. For example, your muscles tighten up in order to constrict your blood vessels as a protective measure against heat loss. Your muscles being tight for an extended period of time can result in pain, because they’re not meant to be so tense all the time. 

Your posture and your movement levels also impact neck pain in the winter. Many people slump and hunch over in order to conserve body heat, which puts your neck in an unnatural position. If it’s freezing, chances are that you’d rather be curled up inside with a good book and a steaming cup of your hot beverage of choice rather than exercising or moving around. Reduced activity levels lead to muscle and joint stiffness, which can lead to your neck hurting.

One of the most annoying causes for neck pain in the winter is how the very things that keep us warm when we leave the house can be increasing the strain on our necks – coats and scarves and hats. This added weight can put more stress on your neck, especially if you’re bundling up in a way that doesn’t hold your head over your spine, but instead causes your chin to just out. Talk about a catch 22. 

Maybe winter increases your risk of neck pain, but you can best that pesky bugger through a number of methods.

Preventing Neck Pain In The Winter

Neck pain can be avoided and alleviated in multiple ways. Here are some of the ways you can prevent neck pain this winter.

• Bundle up properly!

When you’re wrapping scarves around your neck, make sure that you’re not inadvertently putting your neck out of proper alignment. Your neck should be over your spine – not in front of or behind it.

• Don’t sit for too long.

Tempting, isn’t it? When it’s cold, many people are more sedentary than normal. Making sure you are sitting up straight and getting up to walk around every half hour or so can reduce the strain on your neck, especially if you’re prone to slouching when you sit.

• Stretch your neck.

Stretching is one of the best ways to increase strength and mobility and reduce risk of injury and pain. Neck stretches are simple and can be done even sat in front of the TV. They’re an excellent way to alleviate strain on your spine and reduce pain.

• Stay hydrated!

Chances are, you’re probably reaching for hot drinks more often than not. Don’t forget to drink plenty of water, though! Your spinal disks are mainly water, so staying hydrated will help to keep your spine in good condition, which dominoes into reducing neck pain.

Neck pain in the winter needn’t be some unavoidable horror. You can work to prevent it! Sometimes, though, either through conditions like chronic pain, or other circumstances, you can’t. Or maybe you suffer from it and didn’t know how to prevent it. Regardless, if you suffer from neck pain in the winter, you don’t have to just grin and bear it. Chiropractors can treat your neck pain and get you feeling better.

Chiropractic Care For Neck Pain

When you see a chiropractor for your neck pain, they’ll first conduct an assessment in order to determine the root cause of your pain and the best course of treatment for you. They will look to see any areas where your movement is restricted, check your spinal alignment, and consider your overall body mechanics. They’ll also want to know your history, to learn about any other underlying conditions and things to be aware of.

Chiropractors can then treat your neck pain in a variety of ways. They may use spinal manipulation to restore movement to your joints or manipulations to increase blood flow to your muscles, reducing tension. Massage is another way they can ease tense muscles, as well as other therapies like soft tissue therapy and trigger point therapy. 

Your chiropractor will also guide you through stretches that you’ll be able to do on your own, as well. Your treatment options will be personalized to you.

Are You Suffering From Neck Pain?

Neck pain is a pain in the neck – but it doesn’t have to stay that way. Grant Chiropractic offers professional chiropractic services to alleviate your pain and get you back to feeling like yourself again. For any questions or to schedule an appointment, please contact our office today!