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Can osteopathy help treat migraines? YES! Osteopathy is a highly effective treatment for headaches and migraines

Definition

A migraine in the majority of cases, is a painful sometimes disabling headache that is preceded or accompanied by a sensory warning sign (aura), such as flashes of light, blind spots or tingling in your arm or leg . Migraine pain can be excruciating or even incapacitating for hours or even days.. A migraine is also often accompanied by other signs and symptoms, such as nausea, vomiting, and extreme sensitivity to light and sound.

Cause

A migraine headache is caused by dramatic changes in the blood vessels in the neck. The vessels or ‘pipe’, take fresh blood to the brain. Dysfunctional signals from both nerves and hormones/chemicals force the pipes that deliver blood to the brain to contract and then dilate. The first phase, or contraction phase, may last minutes, hours, or days. During this phase, symptoms can be spots in front of the eyes, difficulty concentrating, and cold fingertips and hands. This is called an "aura". Many people recognize this phase of their headaches; many others don't at first notice any symptoms but can learn to recognize it.

When the blood vessels dilate, the headache pain starts. The blood vessels over-react. Instead of just going from a contracted state back to normal, they dilate much wider than normal. This forces blood into the head faster than it can drain out, causing pressure on the brain and a release of certain chemicals and lots of pain.

There are a number of different processes that can cause the dysfunctional imbalance of chemical messengers and nerve signals leading to a migraine. However, as different as many migraine sufferers situations may be, the main cause of the mixed signals which cause the problem is a misaligned neck bone. The blood vessels to the head live in the neck. There are channels inside each neck bone to house and protect the pipe that delivers the blood to the brain. If each of the seven neck bones is aligned in sequence the pipe is well protected and the brain’s blood supply comes in hard and fast when in need of extra oxygen and steadily at rest. However if one bone is out of sequence, and it is surprisingly always the same bone on every migraine sufferer, the pipe is kinked. We all know from hose pipes that a kink in the pipe causes a huge increase in pressure. In gross simplification, this is akin to what causes migraines.

Treatment

Osteopathic treatment for migraines works by realigning the bone in question, (as well as others which influence it to misalign) thus removing the kink in the pipe restoring the blood vessels to normal function.

Because migraines occur in a two-phase process, with levels of certain chemical signals high in one phase and low in the other phase, treatments can either miraculously help or occasionally make the headache worse, depending on timing. Typically migraine sufferers will find sleeping on one side more comfortable than the other side, and this is also because of the misaligned neck bone.

As we know that the majority of headaches are caused by tension and poor posture, osteopathy is ideally placed to provide treatment and relief in these areas. Prolonged muscle tightness in the neck leads to the joints and nerves compressing which causes pain. Movement of fluids, particularly blood and lymph also become restricted. Poor circulation affects oxygen delivery to the brain and prevents waste product removal - this also creates pain and discomfort.

MORE SCIENCE FOR THOSE STILL READING

Embryologically, the head and the first and second cervical vertebrae (neck bones) are formed by the first and second cervical segment. (your skull and first and second neck bone are made from the same piece)

As they originate from the same segments they ought to have some relationship between them. So any abnormality at the level of the first and second cervical vertebrae can give rise to pain in any part of the head, the temple and the forehead. As it happens elsewhere, local pain at the level of the cervical vertebrae may be completely absent and the patient may complain only of a headache.

Call us on Cheltenham, 01242 221456 for a consultation.