Hi, Dr Steph Pinnow here, your chiropractor for headaches in Sun Prairie WI.
And right now I’m talking about digital x-rays that we take here on-site in our office, and why they’re so important in helping us to diagnose and help to treat your tension headaches.
So before we talk about why x-rays are important with headaches, I do want to give you a
little bit of background about what we’re looking for.
Utilizing a Chiropractor for Headaches in Sun Prairie WI
So this person is facing this way, so similar to the way that I’m looking right now, and this is a side view of their neck. Now when we take x-rays, we really want to make sure that we’re able
to see the curvature of the spine.
So for example, this person’s neck instead of going this way, should actually be a really nice smooth backward C.
So that’s what a normal curve looks like. I know it’s kind of weird that I’m showing you an x-ray of an abnormal spine, but that is what we see pretty commonly in our office, and it will help to explain why you might be having some of those tension headaches.
So we want to make sure, like I said, we’ve got a C see here.
You’ll also want to make sure in between these bones right in there, that those discs are nice and thick, and even throughout the spine.
The reason that you want to make sure you have a curve is because you are very concerned
about weight distribution of your head and how that has to do with posture.
So for example, this woman right here, her head, and you can even see how her neck is going forward like this, that means if she’s walking, you know maybe in front of you in a store, you’ll see this kind of thing, this anterior head carriage, leaning forward.
The neck, the front part of the neck, is not meant to bear the weight of your head. That’s why you have these big bones back here. Those are built heavy and tough so that they can hold your head back.
So when you begin to lose that curve, not only does the head go forward, but you build extra pressure right here in the front of your neck. Number one.
Number two is, you gotta think about the muscles in the neck and also going all the way
down to the spine, right? So these muscles back here, when the neck is straight, the head is forward, they’re going to be under tension 24/7, all the time.
So you’ll feel tightness all the way throughout your spine, sometimes even into low back.
So it’s very important to make sure that the structure of your neck is where it’s supposed to be, and that the muscles are attaching and basically holding themselves in a posture that is going to be conducive to normal work flow, normal function of life and also making sure that you’re not having that pain and tension going up to your head causing headaches.
So this person, like I said right here, has what we’d call the beginning of a rear cervical curve, meaning that everything is going forward.
This is very important for me because she might have been doing postural exercises, stretches, everything she could muscularly, at home, but that’s not going to make a difference, right?
What you have to do is make sure that the curve is back where it’s supposed to be and then everything else follows suit.
Chiropractic Adjustments for Headaches in Sun Prairie WI
We help with curve correction here in our office, we also go through each vertebrae here to see which one’s moving, which one’s not moving, adjust those segments, get the spine back into alignment, get the curve back where it’s supposed to be, and then everything functions better after that.
So if you are interested in seeing what exactly your neck looks like, come on in, get your x-rays taken, and we will be sure to go through them individually, very specific to you and to see why having headaches and what we can do to help.
Looking forward to meeting you. Thanks.
