Chiropractic treatment can be beneficial in so many ways. When a person thinks about chiropractic care, usually they think about aches and pains being cured by an adjustment. The truth is, chiropractic treatments can do much more for the body than simply provide pain relief. The fact of the matter is, chiropractic care can improve the body's immune system and help a person feel better overall. This blog contains information about the many ways that proper chiropractic treatment can benefit the young and the old when regular appointments are made and kept. After you have read through this blog, you will have a better understanding of the true benefits of chiropractic care.
Whether you're taking pain relief meds or scheduling a chiropractic appointment to get rid of that headache, it can be helpful to determine what type of headache it is. Here are some differentiating factors that can help you tell the difference.
Location of the Pain
A tension headache often appears at the back of your head, near your neck, and between your ears. If you try touching the area, you may notice that it feels tight and that rubbing it gently to ease the tightness, as well as applying gentle heat, can often help. A tension headache can also encircle your head or manifest primarily in the front of your head, above, or around/behind your eyes.
Characteristic migraine pain can often be differentiated because it tends to show up in one spot, typically in either the right or left temple or behind the right or left eye. This isn't universal, though; another manifestation can be a more widespread pain that focuses in on one spot that's worse than the rest.
How the Pain Behaves
Blunt, tight-feeling pain is characteristic of a tension headache, and localized tenderness may appear as well. If the pain surges or throbs regularly, though, you may have a migraine. There can be a bit of overlap between the two types because, although migraines are typically thought of as worse, a tension headache can also hurt a lot.
If the pain gets worse when you try to walk around or do light activities like tidying up or climbing a set of stairs, it's more likely to be a migraine. If the pain comes with soreness in surrounding areas (face and jaw muscles, neck, shoulders, back, etc.), then it's more likely to be tension-related, although migraines can come with a sore neck as well.
Whether You Have Other Migraine Symptoms
Typically, a tension-related headache only comes with tension-related pain, soreness, and/or tenderness and stiffness. A migraine can also cause a variety of other symptoms, some of which can seem unrelated.
A classic example is the migraine aura, although this isn't as common as you'd expect; only a few people actually get an aura before their migraines. Migraines can also cause light and/or sound sensitivity, nausea, vomiting, blurred vision, dizziness, and other symptoms.
These three points can help you decide if the type of headache you're experiencing is more likely to be migraine or tension-related. Both migraines and tension headaches can often be relieved by receiving chiropractic care at a clinic such as Stroud Chiropractic Clinic.
Remember, although they are quite common, not every headache can be attributed to these two causes. A headache can also indicate an injury or concussion or an underlying illness. If your headache sounds different from those described here, doesn't subside when you take painkillers, or keeps coming back, or if you get headaches quite often or suspect your headaches are caused by another problem, talk to your doctor about possible causes.
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