Hi there, Dr. Pinnow, your Chiropractor for migraines in Sun Prairie WI, here.
Unfortunately in the United States, headaches are very prevalent.
For example, the US spends, on average, about a billion dollars, $1 billion with a B, every year to diagnose headaches through unnecessary scans, like MRIs, like CT scans of the brain.
Which is hard, because we know that that’s something that we can help with as chiropractors.
Even children are currently suffering from headaches, as it’s reported that about 12% of the entire population of the US has headaches, and that does include children.
So this is something that we really, really need to get a handle on.
Is It a Migraine? Chiropractic Sun Prairie, WI
Now, there are different types of headaches, as you know, because migraines is kind of the main topic of this page, but we still want to make sure you are aware that there’s other types of headaches out there.
So the first one I want to talk about, I would say is one of the more common ones, and that’s what we call a tension headache.
So this is becoming very common, especially in the past year after more and more people have been transitioned to working at home, maybe not with the best ergonomics. If you’re that person hunched over on the couch, working on your computer, I’m talking about you.
So I have my model here, and she’s gonna help me explain where some of the headache locations are.
So a tension headache is usually localized right here as a band across the forehead. It feels more of a tight squeezing pain, more muscular in nature rather than structural.
The next headache I want to talk about is what we call a sinus headache. And that is usually- we see more often during the colder months. So, you know, when winter, when all those bugs are being spread through everybody.
And you’ll feel that one where the sinuses are, so right here where the cheeks are, and then also you can feel it in the top of the head, forehead area.
So sometimes you’ll also feel that if you’re bending over to pick something up, for example, you’ll feel that pressure, that headache, right here in your sinuses.
The next two headaches that I would like to teach you about are migraines, which are, I
feel like very commonly known, and then cluster headaches, which I don’t feel like are as commonly known here.
What Is a Migraine? Chiropractic Sun Prairie, WI
Now, migraines you have probably heard a lot of different information about it.
Unfortunately, we do see a lot of people that have migraines, and it is often very debilitating for their lives. It really affects them when they have a migraine attack.
Now, migraines are described as more of a throbbing, pulsating pain. And it’s usually on the side of the head, typically one side more than the other. That doesn’t mean it can’t go on both sides, but it will normally present at one side.
And then sometimes people will tell us that they feel it really settling behind an eye.
They’ll also feel into the cheek, and then into the ear as well, sometimes into the jaw. So there are very common areas of complaints there.
Migraines are more common in females, and migraines are more long-term in terms of duration.
So migraines too typically last anywhere between 4 to 72 hours. And if you’ve got a migraine, a lot of times, those people will want to just be in the dark.
So some other symptoms that accompany migraines are an aura. If you’ve heard of that, that’s where there’s a light disturbance, maybe a light flashing, and then you know the headache is coming later on.
There are also some people that report a light sensitivity, bright lights bother them, or loud noises.
That’s where the wanting to go into a dark room and sleep it off comes into play. And for a lot of people, that’s kind of their only method, besides medication, of getting rid of these migraines.
Migraine attacks typically are 10 to 15 days a month. Hopefully not that much for you, but it does happen for some people.
So cluster headaches actually affect more men than women. Now this type of pain is described as more of like a stabbing, a burning pain. And it’s really isolated behind the eye. Some men also report like a tearing, or even a watering eye on that side as well.
Like I said, a stabbing, burning pain, these cluster headache attacks are typically shorter in duration. So anywhere from like eight minutes to three hours, but they can occur multiple times a day.
So migraines are longer throughout the day. You can have multiple cluster attacks throughout a day.
Those are the four types of headaches that we see most commonly in our office.
Again, we understand how hard it is to have headaches.
It’s very common, however, common should not be confused with normal. So just because you have headaches, and your other coworkers have headaches, that doesn’t mean that that’s a good thing, or it’s a normal thing.
It means your body is telling you that something is going on.
We see thousands of people with headaches. We’ve helped a lot of people change their lives, and we are excited to help you change yours too.
So feel free to reach out to us and see how we can help you.
