What Is A Migraine?

I'm one of the lucky ones. I've never had a migraine.

I've had headaches. But a migraine headache is a different condition altogether, and is best thought of as a "syndrome" instead of a single condition. The Migraine Research Foundation has collected some fascinating facts and statistics regarding migraines:

Many people fail to realize that migraine is a neurological disease, like epilepsy. Every 10 seconds, someone in the United States goes to the emergency room with a headache or migraine. Migraine sufferers visit the emergency room because of the severity of the pain or the fear of unremitting pain, drug reactions or side effects from headache medications, severe nausea or vomiting, dehydration, and/or stroke-like neurological symptoms that might accompany the headache.

Migraine ranks in the top 20 of the world's most disabling medical illnesses. Amazingly, over 10% of the population, including children, suffers from migraine. Nearly 1 in 4 U.S. households includes someone with migraine. In addition to the attack-related disability, many sufferers live in fear knowing that at any time an attack could disrupt their ability to work or go to school, care for their families, or enjoy social activities. More than 90% of sufferers are unable to work or function normally during their migraine attacks. While most sufferers experience attacks once or twice a month, about 14 million people experience headaches on a near-daily basis.

About 18% of American women and 6% of men suffer from migraine. This translates to about 36 million people in the United States alone! American employers lose more than $13 billion each year as a result of 113 million lost work days.

Migraines are devastating. Most people who have had migraines have tried a variety of drugs, supplements, and alternative health care methods in order to rid themselves of these debilitating headaches. So you might be asking yourself: Can chiropractic affect a migraine headache?

Many people think of chiropractors as back doctors, but in reality we are facilitators of a properly-functioning nervous system. We move bones in your spine in order to affect the nervous system. In a similar way, medical doctors give you pills to put in your mouth to affect the cardiovascular system. The medical doctor uses the pill and your mouth in order to accomplish a different purpose; so too, chiropractors use your back in order to accomplish a purpose with the nervous system.

If a migraine headache is a neurological syndrome that affects the head, neck, and upper back, then it stands to reason that chiropractic should be able to help lessen the symptoms or even the cause of your migraine headaches. And, in fact, research bears this out. Visit our migraine headache page for a short list of the research which recommends chiropractic care for migraine and headache sufferers.

If you would like to try a low-force, gentle-on-the-head-and-neck technique of chiropractic care to affect your migraine headaches, consider looking into the Activator Methods chiropractic technique. Dr. Johnson of Johnson Family Chiropractic is your source for the Activator Methods technique in Peoria and central Illinois. Give us a call or send us an e-mail today.