Another Look at Headaches and Migraines

Headaches and migraines are an endemic problem in America with migraines alone costing the US economy more than 13 billion dollars annually. Migraines affect 6% of men and 18% of women in the US.

   23 million people have migraines. Migraines are only a small percentage of headache problems though they are the most severe type. We can medicate ourselves continually, but that only submerges the symptoms and doesn’t address the causes.

   Headaches can come from a variety of sources, heightened vascular and cerebrospinal fluid pressure as in migraines, or from muscular tension, electrolyte imbalance, postural imbalance, TMJ dysfunction, and eyestrain among others. It can be seen from this list that headache causes have strong lifestyle associations. That is, activities and reactions associated with lifestyles and working situations can be the causes for headaches. Even migraines have been shown to have dietary causes.

   What does this mean for us as headache sufferers? It doesn’t mean we have to get our heads examined in order to reduce our headaches. We just need to take a look at our habits, movement patterns and our posture to relieve a great many of the causes of our pain. Making sure we are properly hydrated with sufficient water intake (water, not tea or soda or coffee) can take care of our electrolyte issues.

   Addressing our ergonomics at work or at home can have a profound effect. Think about how watching the computer monitor at work pulls your head forward. If the head posture is only one half of an inch forward of neutral it can cause the neck muscles to work 50% harder and pull at the base of the skull where often our headaches are located. This area is also the origin of the muscle that goes over the top of our heads and ends at our brow, so the headaches that begin at our forehead can have their origins in our neck and forward of neutral head posture. By checking our posture at the computer and when we are home at rest, watching TV, we can see if we are straining and regain some ease there.

   Computer appropriate eyewear or eye exercises can take care of the eyestrain issue. In general, though, when we have set in motion a posture or muscular imbalance the body tends to hold onto it as a familiar friend, even if we no longer want it. Correct ergonomics, stretching, even exercise won’t make a long-term change for the better in our headache problem. That is where Bowenwork comes in. Even with TMJ issues Bowenwork reminds that body of its natural graceful posture and muscle balance releasing the old hurtful patterns so we can finally relieve ourselves of our headaches.

   Please let me know what you think. I'm writing these so people can have better options and more understanding of their control of their health.

Thank you for reading and replying.

Kevin Minney
 
www.kevinminney.com

 

1 Burden of Migraine in the US; disability and associated costs. Arch Int Med In press