‘Normal headaches’ are like ‘Normal tumors’

When is the last time that you had a headache in Traverse City? Last year? Last month? Yesterday? I can’t go one week without someone asking me, “Isn’t it kind of normal to get 1-2 headaches per week?”. The answer to that question is NO. Although that may now be common, it is not normal. The headache is an indication that there is a problem, usually on a neurological level.

What do most of us do when we have a headache? We take a pill. Excedrin, motrin, tylenol, you name it. If the problem persists and it gets really severe then we may head to the medical doctor and get a prescription for topamax or imitrex. However, there is one important question to consider. Do you have a migraine because you have a lack of tylenol in your system? Or because your body is deficient of excedrin?

If the answer is no, then we are not addressing or correcting the root cause of the problem. We are simply masking the problem until it gets big enough and scary enough for us to finally stop and address it.

A study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association by Kruit and Launer says that severe migraines may cause long-term damage to the brain. “The findings of this study will change the common perception that migraine only is a ‘trivial problem’ with only transient symptoms, into [seeing] that migraine may be a chronic-progressive disorder that may cause permanent changes in the brain,” Kruit says.

In the study, subjects with migraines underwent a brain MRI. The findings were astounding, but not surprising. They determined a level of ‘high deep white matter lesions load.’ In other words, individuals with migraines had lesions in the brain similar to the beginnings of a neurodegenerative disorder such as Multiple Sclerosis. They found female migraine patients to be at twofold increased risk. Some of the people in the study had infarcts: areas of dead brain cells. Men and women who had migraine with aura were nearly 14 times more likely to have infarcts in a particular area of the brain — the cerebellum — than normal people.

Donald B. Penzien, PhD, director of the head pain center at the University of Mississippi, Jackson, says the findings are just a confirmation of his previous assumptions.

“This makes sense. It matches up with the clinical symptoms of people with severe migraines,” Penzien says. “It shows that migraine is a brain disease.”

Our Traverse City upper cervical chiropractic team helps individuals with headaches and migraines on a daily basis. New research has indicated that with a few degrees of rotation of the top bone in the neck, atlas, can alter fluid flow dynamics in the brain. It can be in the form of cerebrospinal fluid or blood flow. This alteration can lead to pounding headaches or migraines.

At Shift Health Center, we measure these misalignments down to the millimeter and degree using specialized computer software. This tells us not just which direction the misalignment is in, but how much we need to correct it by. Our chiropractors are able to correct this without any twisting, cracking, or popping due to the specificity of our analysis.

Take care of your brain and contact our team at Shift Health Center in Traverse City for more information today!