Migraines

Cause

Though there isn’t one answer for everyone about why they get migraines, there are several common triggers that are indicators that one is coming. These triggers can include but are not limited to the following:

• Hormonal Changes
• Emotional Triggers (depression, anxiety, shock, etc)
• Diet Changes (lack of nutrition, dehydration, etc.)
• Medications (anti inflammatories, caffeine, etc.)
• Environment (lighting, sounds, smells, etc)
• Structural Dysfunctions (posture, exercise, overexertion, spinal alignment, etc.)

Effects

The symptoms can vary from person to person. The most common symptom is a throbbing, non stop head pain. Not to be confused with a regular headaches that are short in comparison and more of an ache than actually pain. Migraines are constant and unrelenting. They can last anywhere from a few hours to days or even weeks at a time. This pain can bring on bouts of depression, anxiety and physical weakness. The effect a migraine has on the rest of the body can be overwhelming and debilitating.

Common Effects by system they affect:

• Vision – Sensitivity to light, blurred or distorted vision, flashes of light
• Gastrointestinal – Nausea, vomiting or loss of appetite
• Auditory – Sensitivity to sound or aura 
• Cranial – Dizziness, lightheadedness, malaise, irritability, congestion and scalp tenderness.

Treatment

As with any treatment plan, your therapist needs to be made aware of the severity of the migraines. When did they start? How long do they typically last? What other treatments have you tried? Did any of them help? Try to give your therapist a complete picture of your condition to evaluate the best course of treatment moving forward.

Your therapist will also run you through a simple evaluation. This evaluation is to check the structure and function of the affected areas. It will also help them rule out possible myofascial restrictions that might be pulling on the area. The ease or difficulty of the evaluation movements will also help us set the pace for treatment since we will have to work with what the tissue is ready for.

Your therapist will start to connect the dots along the fascial lines of the body to treat the whole problem and not just the site of pain. Now that we have an idea of how to proceed, your therapist will use manual therapy tools to break down fascial restrictions and lengthen congested tissue throughout the affected areas. First few treatments will be focused around the shoulders and neck. Future treatments can include the back, hips and even the feet depending on how far the dysfunction has traveled. 

Each visit will have a re evaluation to check progress and make adjustments to treatments as needed. Remember that your pain is chronic and sadly there is no magical number of visits to guarantee the results you are looking for. With that said, you should notice improvement every visit. Constant care is critical when starting out the treatments. A minimum of once a week if not twice a week is needed to get recurring migraines under control.

When the migraines have subsided and the frequency has diminished, we recommend an overall structural treatment we refer to as our 10 sessions of Structural Integration. Though regular treatments will help treat and maintain, the 10 sessions can help with underlying issues found throughout the entire body which will support the structure and function of the neck and head reducing the chances of the migraines returning.