Headaches

Got a headache? You’re not alone.

Headaches are responsible for more than 18 million doctor’s office visits annually in the U.S., and are the most common reason for reaching for over-the-counter medication. Likewise troubling is their toll on the economy: $25 billion in lost productivity, based on the estimated 156 million work days lost each year by sufferers sometimes too debilitated to even make it out of bed.

All of which helps explain why a study in the Journal of Manipulative and Physiological Therapeutics is causing such a stir among health experts — and prompting patients interested in drug-free alternatives to consider heading for their nearest chiropractor.

The study came down squarely in favor of chiropractic for two key types of sufferers. “Evidence suggests,” it concluded, “that chiropractic care, including spinal manipulation, improves migraine and cervicogenic headaches.” The latter refers to headaches originating from faulty cervical and other spinal biomechanics often precipitated by awkward motion or positioning, and can be accompanied by neck, shoulder or arm pain.

What’s more, even patients with episodic or chronic tension type headaches were found to be “helped” by chiropractors. Dr. Cory Koch of Chiropractic Lifestyle in Olathe, who as been serving area residents since 1992, has helped patients with these types of headaches through chiropractic adjustments.

Another report, released in 2001 by researchers at the Duke University Evidence-Based Practice Center in Durham, NC, found that “spinal manipulation resulted in almost immediate improvement for those headaches that originate in the neck, and had significantly fewer side effects and longer-lasting relief of tension-type headache than commonly prescribed medications.” These findings support an earlier study published in the Journal of Manipulative and Physiological Therapeutics that found spinal manipulative therapy to be very effective for treating tension headaches. This study also found that those who stopped chiropractic treatment after four weeks continued to experience a sustained benefit in contrast to those patients who received pain medication.

If you are having problems with these types of headaches, contact Dr Koch at the Chiropractic Lifestyle Center at 913-768-0000 or fill out the appointment request form on the right side of this page.