How Can You Achieve Longer Lasting Relief from Headache Pain?
Did you know one-third of Americans and Canadians suffer from chronic headaches? According to recent surveys, since the start of the pandemic Canadian migraine sufferers experienced an increase in migraine headaches. Keep reading to learn how can you find lasting relief from headache pain and discomfort.
Headaches are common, uncomfortable (sometimes debilitating), and often hard to treat. While pain medication and muscle relaxants will ease the pain of a headache, these options are essentially a Band-Aid. They do nothing to relieve the cause of the headache itself. The result is headaches that regularly re-occur. In many cases, traditional medicine has little to offer chronic headache sufferers.
Thankfully, traditional pain medicine is not your only choice for headache relief.
How To Deal with Headache Pain
Headaches can be caused by a variety of factors including stress, tense muscles, pinched nerves, eye strain, or pressure from the sinuses. In addition, some types of headaches can be caused by dehydration, poor posture, food or alcohol sensitivities or even lack of sleep.
- Identify the Type of Headache: Knowing the cause or type of your headache will help you on your path to relief. Tension and cervicogenic headaches are among the most common and the most treatable. Some headache causes are simple to resolve while others may be more complicated or require medical intervention.
- Reduce Stress and/or Tension: Stress and tension are a natural part of life. Too much of either can cause issues like headaches. Stress reduction practices such as meditation, regular stretching or exercise, and relaxation techniques can improve wellbeing; these practices can also help reduce the occurrence of certain types of headaches.
- Get a Massage: Massage therapy has been proven effective for the treatment of headaches. Massage therapy can reduce the frequency and number of headaches experienced by those with chronic tension headaches. Massage is also a wonderful way to reduce stress!
- See a Chiropractor: Chiropractic treatments are very proficient at dealing with headaches. Chiro can even help decrease the frequency, duration of the pain, and the number of painkillers needed for relief.
- Talk to Your Doctor: Are your headaches extreme or causing a disruption to your daily life? You may need to visit your doctor for a full assessment or an MRI.
Headaches are something we all deal with from time to time, but if regular headaches are affecting your quality of life, you may want to consider alternate options. You don’t have to just keep reaching for that Tylenol bottle and waiting for the discomfort to pass.
At Fraser Valley Chiropractic & Wellness, we offer full assessments to help diagnose your type of headache. We provide treatments to relieve pain, tension and discomfort. If you would like to pursue more lasting solutions for headache pain, we would love to help!