Headaches - a real 'pain in the neck'!
"A headache is just a sign of stress/dehydration/lack of sleep - just have a glass of water and you will be right"...said NO headache sufferer EVER!
A headache can take over our world and affect our every moment, every movement and every emotion. So why do some people get headaches and others can eat that chocolate-covered strawberry, while sipping on a chardonnay in the bright summer sun, surrounded by a cacophony of children’s voices, without so much as a wimper?
Recent research* conducted by Dr Dean Watson, founder of the Watson Headache Institute and PHD holder, shows that some of the population have an increased sensitivity to stimuli that others don’t. Dean’s method is based on the theory that this sensitivity comes from the trigeminocervical nucleus which transmits messages through the Brain Stem and sits behind the Upper Cervical joints in the neck. So we know that for the vast majority of headaches sufferers (will have neck problems and) treating these upper cervical joints in a highly skilled manner, changes the behavior (the sensitivity) of headaches, even in otherwise healthy necks!
This approach is not only utilised with "neck" headaches, though. It can be used to change Menstrual Headaches, Sinus Headaches, Cluster Migraines (if you suffer from these you’ll know what they are!) and every other kind of headaches - of which there over 150 documented types!
But I hear you say, “I have Migraines – not just headaches!” In fact, a Migraine is a type of headache, and can be present with "aura" or without; with nausea or vomiting or without.
So if you have not tried this targeted "Watson" approach before, our Head & Jaw clinic may be worth a visit where our Watson-trained physios can assess you and develop a plan of treatment.
*Watson DH, Drummond PD. Head Pain Referral During Examination of the Neck in Migraine and Tension-Type Headache. Headache 2012;52:1226-1235