Your Best Option Against Headaches

By: Dr. Eric Read

It’s a common theme, people get a headache and turn to over- the- counter (OTC) drugs for some relief. Treating a headache occasionally with OTC drugs like aspirin or other pain drugs won’t do much harm. However using these types of drugs repeatedly on a regular basis can often have serious or deadly side effects. In fact non-steroidal anti-inflamatory drugs such as naproxen or aspirin cause 16,500 deaths every single year in the United States according to the FDA.

Many different things can cause headaches. Stress, dehydration, breathing toxic fumes, etc, can give someone a headache. Many times headaches arise from problems in the spine, particularly the upper back and neck, where nerves that serve the head and face are irritated by spinal misalignments in the neck.

People with chronic headaches that often find themselves turning to drugs to help give them relief may have a friend in chiropractic. Many studies have shown that chiropractic care is effective for migraines and tension headaches. A recent study I found particularly interesting tested chiropractic treatments against a popular prescription drug used to prevent tension headaches, Amitiptyline. They studied a group of people that had been having chronic headaches, meaning they had at least one headache per week for at least the previous 3 months. They were divided into two groups, one receiving chiropractic care and the other receiving the prescription drug.

Both groups improved at similar rates from their baseline measures during 6 weeks of care. However, 82% of the group taking the prescription drug suffered with side effects from that drug. These things included dry mouth, drowsiness, or weight gain, and 5 of these people dropped out all together because the side effects were worse than the headaches.

In contrast only 4.3% of the chiropractic patients reported any side effects and these were usually reports of neck stiffness after the first treatment, and in all cases this disappeared after the second week of care. The advantage of chiropractic care in side effects alone is significant, but the real advantage of chiropractic care showed at follow up visits 4 weeks after the care ended. The chiropractic group continued to enjoy a 42% reduction in headache frequency, 32% reduction in headache intensity, and a 16% improvement in functional health. The group given the prescription drug had ALL reverted back to their baseline values or slightly worse.

This study illustrates that treating headaches with drugs often has negative side effects associated with them, and no lasting benefit to the person taking them. The headaches came right back for the group taking drugs for the pain. There is also a risk of "rebound headache". After long term use of medication, they seem to only give partial relief, and when they wear off, the headaches are more severe than the original one. To get the same amount of relief the patient ends up taking more and more of the medications.

Instead of subjecting yourself to the side effects of medications, try chiropractic. Most of you do, that’s why you’re on our mailing list and receiving this newsletter. But for those you know that are not getting this, and suffering from headaches, or anything you think we may be able to help with, give the newsletter to them, or tell them about it. Anyone suffering from chronic headaches will really appreciate any relief they can get.