Archive for category Pain
Acupuncture – Treatment for Headache and Migraine Pain Relief
Posted by admin in Acupuncture, Pain, Treatment on January 9, 2012
I have been getting a number of questions recently about migraines and whether treatment with acupuncture is successful. In my experience here in the Boston area, I can say that as long as the patient is willing to fully engage in the treatment plan developed by their acupuncturist, I have seen very promising results for sufferers of migraines using acupuncture. The results are not just anecdotal either; there are research studies that back up acupuncture’s use for migraines such as one published in the British Medical Journal that found a decrease in the frequency of attacks among other things. Before we get into the role acupuncture plays in all this, I want to take a moment to talk about the staggering statistics of and the physiological aspects of migraines.
Headaches in general are a serious problem in the United States with as many as 78% of American suffering from recurrent headaches at some point in their life. They can be categorized as primary or secondary. Primary headaches such as migraines, cluster, tension or depression headaches are due to a dysfunction in the central nervous system. Secondary headaches are due to a problem outside the nervous system that then cause the symptoms of headache such as hypertension, renal or liver failure, flu or TMJ to name a few.
Migraine headaches, with or without aura, tend to strike females at a 3:1 ratio and over 20% of adult females suffer from them. Diagnosis is typically made based on the location, frequency, duration and characteristics of pain the patient presents with as well as a personal or familial history of headaches since 90% of migraine sufferers have a family history of them. Read the rest of this entry »
Chiropractic Treatment for Relieving Neck Pain
Most experiences of neck pain usually make people turn to chiropractors. Many believe that they not only address their main source of pain, it also fixes any small sources of throbs and twinges. Neck and back pain are treated in the same manner, as they both require the use of controlled force to push the joint past its traditional range of movement.
The most common reason people complain about neck pain starts with poor posture. Slouching applies too much pressure on your spinal cord, and lends to swollen joints or worse. The second most known cause of neck pain is from extreme trauma such as car accidents. The goal of chiropractors is to loosen up your joints that are moving poorly and have been set in place by scarred and damaged tissue build up.
Chiropractors use a neck adjustment technique known as “cervical manipulation” is used to loosen up joints from the cervical vertebrae in your neck that reduces pain from pinched nerves and muscle spasms. Chiropractors carefully twist your neck, and as they do, it pops your vertebrae into alignment. In doing so, it will help with your pain, stimulate your nervous system, and help increase your blood circulation. Read the rest of this entry »