Headaches & Migraines
Headaches and Migraines can be extremely debilitating. Not having a clear head can stop you in your tracks from performing any simple daily tasks, let alone trying to manage a job and the stresses of family life.
Headaches and Migraines are usually the cause of one of two reasons. 1) you have an allergy or food intolerance to something like red wine, cheese, chocolate, coffee or some other food substance. 2) stress and tension in the neck, shoulders and upper back brought on by a) physical effort of their job or b) stress or worry due to some obstacle or intangible problem in their life which at the moment seems difficult or impossible to solve.
If your headaches/migraines are due to a food intolerance or allergy, then your problems usually start just after or a few hours after consuming the problem food. starting a “food diary” for a few weeks where you write down every food and liquid that you consume in a diary and noting down the times in the diary that you have the headaches/migraines usually identifies the problem food or drink that is causing the problem. Then simple removal of that food/drink from your diet (or reduction of its consumption) should reduce or eliminate the problem.
If the problem is due to your physical activity (job, hobbies or sports) or your stress levels then the solution relies on working on the tight musculature in the neck, shoulder and back to treat you cause of the headache or migraines and so manage the problem.
*Just a quick note here, I have treated many people for stress related headaches or migraines that don't feel that they are stressed at all. They are usually in jobs that require a lot of responsibility for big decisions or require them to travel a lot throughout the day (often driving from one meeting to another just a few hours later) and these people actually welcome the excitement of “always being on the move.” However their bodies often react differently if this level of drive or demand is maintained indefinitely. After a time, their bodies try to tell them to slow down or at least “take a break” and if the action is not enough to allow the body to relax, then tensions throughout the body usually start to accumulate and grow.
Fortunately, if your problem is due to stresses (seen or unseen) or due to the amount of physical effort required in your job or social/family life, then I can help. Osteopathy is ideal for relaxing and releasing the tight musculature that has been building up in your body for however long. I treat this particular problem by improving the range of movement in the neck, shoulders and upper back and relaxing the associated muscles removing the tension, knots and restrictions to free movement of your body. This may take several treatments depending on the level of stress you are under. Unless you can remove the cause of your current stress, a course of treatments will need to be done regularly for the first few weeks. After this, if the problem is resolve, you will not require further treatment unless the stress is something you have to live with. In this case, a regular treatment every 3-5 weeks should help manage the tension in your body and prevent it from building up to uncomfortable or unmanageable levels