Tension Headaches and Nutritional Balancing

There are many reasons for headaches. High copper, caffeine, iodine balance, boron and arsenic toxicity, sinus infection, PMS, allergies, blood sugar, blood pressure, dehydration, and vision problems are just some. Tension headaches are the most common and are the most simple to understand and work with at times. Headaches are generally quite easy to resolve with nutritional balancing science, combined with chiropractic, postural correction, foot reflexology, and occasionally other tension release methods. The trick is to treat the cause of the problem. 

Tension headaches are most often caused by poor posture and the resultant joint misalignment's that then cause the muscle tension. Think of your head like a bowling ball balanced on a stick. The state of the ball here is very precarious because if that ball moves forward or in any other direction gravity is going to win and the ball is going to fall. This is what happens in real life. If you sit slumped at a computer or steering wheel all day your head has moved forward and gravity wants to pull it down. Fortunately we have muscles to hold it up but they have a limit to what they can do and when they have become overworked we develop muscle tension headaches.

Here are some examples. Our trapezius muscle is illustrated to the left. If you have ever wondered why you are so tight across the top of the shoulders it might pay dividends to continue reading. As your head moves forward or side to side the trapezius is one of the muscles to have to pick up the weight of the head. Here is fascinating bit. Referred pain happens. Much like a heart attack (muscle) causes referred pain into the left arm, our trapezius muscle refers pain into our head. If you get pain where you see the red then you should highly suspect your trapezius muscle as the cause. Start to fix your posture, get your neck adjusted or massage it out. Professional guidance is recommended but the good news is that you will be treating causes not just popping pills if you can figure this out.

A second very common source of headaches is the suboccipitals at the base of your scull. You can see where the headache is usually felt. This type of headache almost always responds to posture correction and an adjustment of the top one or two vertebra.

Tension headaches are like a road map. If you live in Brisbane and want to get to Cairns you take the Bruce Highway. If you want to get to Sydney you head south. Each muscle has a distinct pain destination it is going to go to, and if you know where your head pain is we can often sort out what muscle it is without even assessing you it's that direct.

In summary, tension headaches are one of the most common types of headaches and do well with nutritional balancing and other structural and postural work.  If you have any questions don't hesitate to contact us.

Dr. Todd Lizon, B.P.H.E., D.C.