As you might imagine, headaches are very, very common. It’s estimated that about 40% of the world’s population suffers from some type of headache disorder, and it affects females three times more commonly than males. About 5% of the American population will suffer from headaches more than twice a week. That’s a lot.
It’s really important that we identify the root cause of those headaches and not just try to cover up the symptoms with a pill. Headaches can lead to decreased productivity at school or work, missed time at school or work, and severely limit quality of life whenever they happen.
Three Main Causes of Tension-Type Headaches
There are three main causes of tension-type headaches.
The first one is stress. With the pace of life nowadays, stress is at an all-time high.
Next is dehydration, right? If we don’t have enough water going to our muscles and blood vessels, those things can tighten up and trigger headaches.
Third, and probably the most common cause of tension-type headaches, is poor posture. Depending on the way we sit, work at our computer, look at our phone, or even the way we sleep, all of these activities can put us in a poor posture with our head forward and shoulders rounded forward. This can put a lot of stress on our head, neck, and upper back.
How Poor Posture Can Trigger Headaches
When we have poor posture, with our head forward and shoulders rounded forward, it affects the nerves that are coming from our neck. Those nerves go to our upper back, our arms, the muscles in our neck, and also the blood vessels going to our head.
When those nerves aren’t sending the proper signals, those blood vessels will constrict and decrease the blood flow to our head. It’ll cause a real tightness feeling in the back of our neck, up to the base of our skull, and even up over the top of our head.
Addressing the Root Cause With Chiropractic Adjustments
Once we’ve determined the root cause of a patient’s headaches, we can go in and start with chiropractic adjustments. Those adjustments get the spine moving better, which helps the nerves work better.
When the nerves work better, they can send their proper signals to the muscles and blood vessels and really work on retraining a proper posture in the neck and upper back. That is super important and can be a complete game changer in patients’ quality of life.
