Headaches & Migraines, Why See An Osteopath?
4.9 million people in Australia suffer from migraine.(1)
Photo by Anthony Tran on Unsplash
Headache is one of the most common health-related conditions in Australia. They can result in mild to severe disability, pain, and significant lifestyle disruption.
There are different types of headaches and many different causes, which explains why the condition is so common. Headaches can be experienced as a dull or sharp ache or pain in the head region with or without accompanying symptoms such as nausea, disturbed vision, sensitivity to noise and bright lights, and muscular and joint tightness in the neck and shoulder region.
What is the cause?
Anything that stimulates the pain receptors in a person’s head or neck can cause a headache and migraine. Most have more than one contributing factor. Lifestyle factors are common triggers, things such as poor diet, stress, muscle tension, and lack of exercise often play a role.
Other contributors include dental or jaw problems, infections, eye problems, hormonal influences, medications, disorders of the nervous system, injury to the head, neck or spine, high blood pressure and illnesses of the eye, ear, nose, and throat.
Headache can be classified into two broad categories: primary and secondary. Examples of primary headache include cluster and tension headaches. Secondary headaches are triggered by an underlying disorder – such as infection, injury, or a tumour – and are a side effect of the main illness. Serious underlying disorders, such as brain tumours, are rarely the cause of headache, although persistent and rare headache should always be investigated with your health professional.
What is the difference between a headache and a migraine?
A headache typically causes pain on both sides of the head. It's a tight pressure rather than a throbbing, and you might also have soreness in your temples, neck, and shoulder muscles. Headache pain isn't usually considered 'severe'.
Migraines are less common and have many symptoms, including headache. The pain can be throbbing and might be worse on one side of your head. Pain may also occur around your eyes, temples, face, jaw and/or neck. The pain may increase with physical activity or light stimulation.
The key difference is that Migraines can be distressing and debilitating and can affect your whole body. People can feel vaguely unwell for a day or two before a migraine headache comes on. Once it has started, a migraine headache can last for between 4 hours and several days. Not all migraines involve headache.
Why do people see an Osteopath for headaches & migraines?
A Melbourne study showed 87% of subjects had experienced headache in the last year. The one year prevalence of migraine was 16%, with females at 3 times elevated risk of migraine. (2)
Misalignments of the spine and neck, poor posture and muscle tension can refer pain into the head. Your Osteopath is trained to assess the function of your neck and back to help identify if there may be a musculoskeletal cause for your headaches.
The upper 3 cervical (neck) joints in your neck, can refer pain to the head and upper neck and can result in a headache. Muscle spasm and joint strain can increase the firing of the cervical nerves into the brainstem (the connection between the brain & the rest of the body). The same area in the brainstem (the trigeminal nucleus) also receives and relays messages to the face and head. Therefore, over stimulation of the brainstem also excites the nerves to the face and head, causing your headache pain along with the symptoms of nausea, vomiting and sensitivity to light and sound (which are also controlled by the brainstem).
If you visit an Osteopath for help with headaches, your Osteopath will take a detailed subjective assessment of your condition. They will ask questions to help establish the cause of your symptoms and rule out non-musculoskeletal causes.
They will then do a physical examination to see if you have an issue in the movement or musculoskeletal alignment in your neck or upper back.
If it is decided that Osteopathic treatment is appropriate for you, you will be prescribed a specific treatment plan which typically involves manual therapy, posture advice and home exercises.
For more information, please talk to your Osteopath or health professional.
1) Migraine in Australia Whitepaper, Deloitte Access Economics Report, 2018.
2) Prevalence of headache and migraine in an Australian city- J. Heywood, T. Colgan, and C. Coffey- Journal of Clinical Neuroscience (1998) 5(4), 485.
Anarte-Lazo, E., Carvalho, G.F., Schwarz, A. et al. Differentiating migraine, cervicogenic headache and asymptomatic individuals based on physical examination findings: a systematic review and meta-analysis. BMC Musculoskelet Disord 22, 755 (2021).
Castien R, De Hertogh W. A Neuroscience Perspective of Physical Treatment of Headache and Neck Pain. Front Neurol. 2019;10:276. Published 2019 Mar 26. doi:10.3389/fneur.2019.00276
Some extra reading that you might find interesting:
Better Health Vic Government: https://www.betterhealth.vic.gov.au/health/conditionsandtreatments/headache
Watson Headache Institute: https://watsonheadache.com/
Heath Direct Vic Government: https://www.healthdirect.gov.au/