Headaches

At some point you’ve probably experienced a headache. Most people do.

At the end of a long day at work, your head starts to ache. Pound even. Your neck is stiff and sore. Is 5pm too early for bed?

Sometimes it’s so bad you can’t get out of bed at all. Your day doesn’t even get started. Perhaps you’ve been stuck on the toilet floor all night.

You’re afraid to book a holiday, worried you won’t enjoy it and waste your money and holiday leave. Social events are more stressful than fun. You might have more bad days than good.

You may have been told you have:

Headaches can be complex. With over 150 different types of headaches, finding the cause of your headaches is important.

You’ve tried a few different pain relievers. Some cause brain fog and fatigue, which you hate. Perhaps you’re after a more natural approach. 

“Why is this happening to me?” or “How can I get rid of it?”

We understand you may feel frustrated, hopeless, or confused by now. You’re over letting headaches dictate your life. You want control again.

Well please know that you are not alone. Here at Body and Brain Centre, we hear this a lot.

It’s great that you’ve tried a few things. You now know what doesn’t work. So you’re a step closer to finding out what does work.

Ways we can help you manage your headaches

Our caring, talented team are keen to find the cause of your headaches. For instance:

What aggravates or triggers an attack?  Why might you be experiencing discomfort, pain and maybe even nausea? Spots in your vision? Tingling?

People find relief from headaches through a range of ways, depending on preference and their needs:

You don’t need to worry about which service suits - we’ll point you in the right direction. However, you may like to understand how a few of these services can help:

Chiropractic for headaches and migraine

Your neck, shoulders, jaw or even scalp feel achy, tight and tender.

You spend too long in front of the computer. Or driving stuck in traffic. You can see you are starting to hunch over.

Chiropractic helps to align the spine. Loosen jammed up joints in the neck, shoulders and throughout the body (Bronford et al. 2010). Massage tight muscles. Rehab weak and lazy muscles. Cold laser to relieve pain - like in your jaw (Chang et al. 2014).

Your chiropractor will assess your overall well being. What you eat. How you spend your days. Together we’ll look for hints to your triggers - and together we’ll plan ways to avoid and manage your headaches.

Treatment may include laser therapy, TENS, taping and other therapies depending on the cause of your headaches.

• Chiropractic at Body and Brain Centre

Naturopathy & Dietetics for headaches and migraines

You’ve got an inkling your diet is contributing to your headaches but you can’t pinpoint how. You’ve cut down on your coffee but still get headaches. How many cups a day can you really have? Any!?! You don’t want to cut out coffee if it’s not absolutely necessary.

Maybe you have ‘hotdog headaches’ caused by chemicals in deli meats (Henderson & Raskin 1972). Or nutritional deficiencies like vitamin D (Virtanen et al. 2017).

For those with extra kilos, losing weight has been shown to reduce the intensity, duration and frequency of headaches (Di Vincenzo et al. 2020).

Be guided through your nutritional journey by an expert to spot the patterns. You may be given remedies such as a vitamin supplement or a tailored herbal blend to speed the healing process, reduce inflammation and sensitivities.

• Naturopathy and Dietetics at Body and Brain Centre

Acupuncture & Traditional Chinese Medicine for headaches & migraines

You’re in constant pain. Or maybe at the end of a stressful day, your head starts to pound.

Acupuncture can help your pain and stress. It may reduce the severity and frequency of your headaches & migraines.

Needle & needle-free techniques are used - along with other gentle techniques such as cupping, moxa, herbs and tui na massage.

• Acupuncture and Traditional Chinese Medicine at Body and Brain Centre

Neurofeedback and Neuro-rehabilitation for headaches & migraines

You are generally a little off. Your sleep. Your belly. Your body. Your balance. Your head aches. Your eyes feel fuzzy.

You don’t feel like your usual self. And you don’t like this new you.

Your nervous system may be agitated. Hyper-reactive. Responding strongly to a little flickering light or perfume.

Neurofeedback and neuro-rehabilitation is based on tapping into your brain’s ability to change - and heal itself.

Reduced headache frequency, less muscle tension, less need for medication, generally feeling better (Nestoriuc et al. 2007b) (Nestoriuc & Martin 2008).

Your specially-formulated plans will include simple yet powerful home exercises.

• Biofeedback at Body and Brain Centre

Psychology and Counselling for headaches & migraines

You already know stress triggers your headaches.

Maybe you are up late lying in bed. Thinking. Always thinking. The exhaustion sets a headache into motion. Chronically feeling unwell is taking its toll on you. You are sick of being in pain. More so, you are over missing out on occasions!

Speaking to a counsellor can help you deal with the stress, anxiety and depression that can set headaches off - or be caused by the headaches.

You’ll get home exercises to help relax and improve your sleep. Discover coping strategies. And learn more about yourself.

• Counselling at Body and Brain Centre