Treating Headaches & Migraines In Bristol

Headaches & migraines

Living with headaches or migraines is tough and leaves you feeling miserable and irritable, desperately trying one medication after another. NICE (National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence) estimates that approximately six million people in the UK suffer from regular migraines, with around 190,000 migraine attacks happening every day. Migraine is the third most common disease in the world, and is ranked 7th as the most disabling disease!

Headaches and migraines are so common that most people just accept them as a normal part of their daily lives, and pop a painkiller so that they can carry on with their day, rather than trying to find and address the cause. However, just because they are common does not mean they are normal.

About headaches and migraines

Did you know that more than 70% of headaches come from the neck? These are called ‘cervicogenic headaches’and are the most common form of headache, followed by tension headaches, migraines, cluster headaches, medication and painkiller headaches, and hormone headaches.

Migraines

Migraines are usually a severe headache at the front or side of the head. This is often felt as a throbbing pain that worsens when you move. Other symptoms are nausea, vomiting, and increased sensitivity to light or sound.

Migraines are a very common health condition affecting as many as 8.5 million people in the UK, with 1 in 5 women and 1 in 15 men being affected.

The common forms of migraines include:

•       Migraine with aura – where there are warning signs before the migraine begins, such as seeing flashing lights.

•       Migraine without aura – where the migraine occurs without warning signs.

•       Migraine aura without headache, also known as silent migraine – where an aura or other migraine symptoms are experienced, but a headache does not develop.

Treating headaches and migraines

Although very common, headaches are not just a normal part of life. We’ve been helping patients with neck tension, headaches, and migraines live pain-free for years now.

Medical science has discovered that most headaches are caused by damaged structures around the neck, like joints, ligaments, muscles, and cervical discs, all of which have complex nerve endings. Chiropractors are trained to find, examine, and correct the musculoskeletal problems that lead to headaches.