Headache Treatment Oakville – Migraine and Tension Headache!

How Can a Chiropractic Treatment Fix My Headaches ?

Spinal manipulation, Adjustments, Shockwave Therapy, specific exercises and Massage Therapy are all part of the guidelines for the treatment of headaches, but did you know acupuncture in Oakville can also help?

Dr. Steve Knighton Goes Over Cervical Spine Anatomy

Acupuncture has been proven to help reduce the intensity, duration, and frequency of headaches. Acupuncture treatment can also decrease the number of painkillers that headache sufferers have to take, and that is always a good thing. Wondering what happens during an acupuncture visit at our clinic?

How to use a cervical wedge for headaches. lady lying on floor with wedge behind her neck.

If you are diagnosed with a headache that is coming from your neck (Cervicogenic Headache) our chiropractors have an entire protocol built for you. Once treatment has started you will most likely be advised to limit your screen time, increase your physical activity, and start using a cervical wedge. The Cervical Wedge can be used daily for up to 10 minutes at a time. We recommend these cervical wedges from Amazon. To use the wedge, follow the instructions on the box, but its as easy as lying on the floor, placing the wedge behind your neck, and playing on your phone. We usually recommend starting at a minute a two and working your way up to 10 minutes a day.

What a Typical Headache Treatment is Like:

4 Steps for Treating Headaches at our Oakville Clinic

Once the proper diagnosis has be given and the headaches are coming from your neck or your jaw!

IFC and moist heat are applied to the neck or jaw to loosen up the tissue and get a ton of blood flow to the area. Interferential Current Therapy feels like a deep massage. At our Oakville clinic we use vacuum IFC machines for neck IFC treatment, not the sticky pads like most clinics.
Shockwave Therapy for Headache Treatment: Shockwave is a pneumatic gun the projects a bullet 15 x a seconds against an applicator head. We usually “hit” the patient between 800 and 1200 times around the area of pain. If we are treating your traps our chiropractic team will most likely run the shockwave 1000 times on each trapezius muscle. Depending on the diagnosis, we can run the shockwave down your mid-back and even into the insides of your shoulders. For chronic Cervicogenic Headaches our chiropractors recommended lighter intensity shockwave in the cervical spine and the suboccipital muscles.
Active Release and Trigger Point Therapy of the neck muscles: Picture the opposite of a relaxing massage when our chiropractic team finds those tight and tender points of your neck. Most patients will get a few passes of ART on each of the involved muscles.
Chiropractic Neck Adjustment for Headaches: All the work done before this moment was used to loosen up the tissue of the neck and upper shoulders/mid back. Dr. Steve and Dr. Jenn have found greater results with this approach than just and adjustment on the cervical spine. In most cases headache suffers have one or two joints of their cervical spine locked up, causing tightness and inflammation, irritating a nerve and ultimately causing the headache.

Oakville treatment for headaches acupuncture. a comic of a bald man holding his head with a migraine headache, red patch of pain over his eye. another comic of tension headache with the same guy red band wrapped around his head and into his neck showing where the headache can be felt

Types of Headaches treated by our Oakville chiropractic clinic:

There are two main types of headaches that our chiropractor and acupuncture is particularly helpful for; tension headaches and migraines.

Tension headaches feel like a tight band around the eyes and forehead. Typically they are felt on both sides of the head at the same time, in the temporal area and behind the eyes.

Migraine headaches are usually a throbbing pain felt on one side of the head. Migraines can have associated nausea and vomiting, and sensitivity to light or sensitivity to sound. Headaches can be the result of referred pain from tight muscles in the neck and back of the shoulders, or be caused by stuffy sinuses! There are over 100 types of headaches in total, all with different causes and symptoms!

There is a third type of headache our chiropractors treat. That headache is coming from the jaw or TMJ and can cause changes in the patients bight pattern and jaw tracking. There can be audible pops and clicks at the jaw joint and in most cases there is a severe muscles tension/tightness in the muscles of the jaw that project in and around the ear and to the neck. If you think you are suffering from Jaw or TMJ type headaches check out our BEST TMJ TREATMENT!

Acupuncture Treatment for Headaches in Oakville

Headaches can really ruin your day. Whether they’re migraines, tension-type or sinus headaches – they’re the absolute worst. Our Oakville acupuncture teams sees so many of our patients who suffer from chronic headaches and don’t seek treatment. That is over 15 headaches a month for more than 6 months. That’s crazy!

acupuncture needles points for headaches. female patient lying face up, on needle in her ear, three across the top of her eyebrows, the needles have red handles

Acupuncture at our Oakville clinic can help all kinds of headaches. Treatment will almost always include a point in the hand to help relieve pain in general. This point can be included in treatments in any area of the body because it is such a powerful painkiller! For headaches specifically, treatment will include points in the back of the head and neck and for most patients an electrical stimulation can be applied to make the treatment even more effective. If you are experiencing sinus headaches, or headaches in the forehead region acupuncture can also help relieve that pain. Needles that are inserted into the face are very small and fine to make the insertion painless. Most treatments last about 15-20 minutes and you can just be still and relax while the needles do the work!

Are Your Headaches Coming from your Desk and Computer?

Too many times our chiropractic teams sees patients fighting what seems like year long headaches only to realize the root cause of their headaches is their position at the computer. Ergonomic advice from Dr. Steve is a start.

Check and make sure you are sitting correctly. Get in for treatment to get to the root cause of the problem of your headaches. Then, follow these easy text neck exercises and shoulder stability program to help regain your posture and help with your treatment.

Daily 6 Minute Headache and Text Neck Corrective Program

Think your headaches are coming from text neck and using your phone or computer too much? Check out how our Oakville clinic deals with treating text neck injuries.

If you’re experiencing headaches, whether they occur once in a while or frequently, come visit us at Nottinghill Family Wellness so that our acupuncturists can help you. Why continue to suffer with headaches when we can provide excellent treatment and make life easier for you. We can directly bill most insurance companies. Call us at 905-827-4197 to start treatment for your headaches today!