Chiropractic Care has been well researched in its effectiveness with spinal related pain such as neck pain, lower back pain and mid back pain. As more research is developed we are starting to see the importance of it for headache relief versus medications.
According to this study, 90% of all concurrent tension-type headaches have co-symptoms of neck pain. This means that 90% of tension type headache patients also experience neck pain. Tension Type Headaches number about 26% of headache frequency GLOBALLY. This means at any one point in time, 1 in 5 people will be experiencing a tension type headache and most of them also with neck pain.
How do I know if I suffer from Tension Type Headaches?
Typically, if you have neck pain as stated above, that triggers a headache, it can be related to tension in the muscles that control the neck. Certain joint dysfunction typically at C1, C2 and C3 (the top of the spine by our skull) can stiffen and also create pain that radiates to the head.
Typical symptoms include:
- a tight pressing band around the head
- pain in the temples
- Occasionally pain in the back of skull
- Referral Pain from Muscles up to the head when pressure is applied.
This study specifically looked at Spinal Manipulative Therapy (SMT) also known as chiropractic adjustments and its effectiveness compared to a common drug prescribed for Tension Type Headaches. In other studies there was a demonstration that Tension Type Headaches are treated better with SMT/Chiropractic Adjustments compared to controls which included doing nothing. This means that Chiropractic Care is more effective than medications AND rest for tension type headaches.
Back to this study...
This was a 2 year study that followed participants over that time-frame to evaluate symptoms. One group received chiropractic care (SMT) and the other received medications. Each group was about 3000 participants each. The results showed that after two years the participants who underwent chiropractic care received less prescriptions than those who went to their MD, and since the partipants who received chiropractic care only received that care, there was less incidence of Medication Overuse Headaches (MOH). When I first read this study I was unfamiliar with this because I didn't think it was possible but medications that are prescribed for tension type headaches can actually cause more headaches. Go figure. The authors in the study even go on to say that a decrease in butalbitol (headache medication used in the study) can decrease the chances of Medication Overuse Headaches!
The greatest part about this study is that they actually tracked how many visits the participants went to a chiropractor for. Only 73% of participants needed more than one visit, meaning over 25% got better with only 1 visit. On average each person who went more than once went about 15 times over the course of this 2 YEAR STUDY. That totals to less than once per month! Now imagine if you stayed consistent with a care plan and enrolled in a maintenance plan of at least once per month, how amazing you would feel!
To summarize, Chiropractic Care should be the first line of care for Tension Type Headaches before any medication should be considered. Most of these studies only look at one form of treatment which in this case is the chiropractic adjustment. However at Enhanced Chiropractic Relief, we provide multiple therapies in combination to best enhance the results and get you better, faster.
Trager RJ, Williamson TJ, Makineni PS, Morris LH. Association Between Spinal Manipulation, Butalbital Prescription, and Medication Overuse Headache in Adults With Tension-Type Headache: Retrospective Cohort Study. Health Sci Rep. 2024 Nov 29;7(12):e70218. doi: 10.1002/hsr2.70218. PMID: 39619084; PMCID: PMC11605481.
Jacob Lilley
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