Headaches
Darwin Osteopath aiming to diagnose and treat all potential causes of musculoskeletal headaches for long term solutions.
Headaches can be caused by a wide range of different structures in the body. From the muscles or joints in the neck, your jaw and even from your shoulders. Initially, treatment is aimed at those tissues causing your symptoms to help get you feeling back to your normal self. The next step is to understand why those tissues became irritable in the first place so you can make headaches an issue of the past.
Example case study
· 32-year-old male desk worker with tension type headaches, headaches start in the early afternoon at the base of the skull and radiate to the front of the head. The headaches have been ongoing for 18 months and have been getting worse in the last 3 months to the point where he has a headache every other day.
· Upon examination it was found that his upper back had an increased curve and was rigid in movement, he was chest breathing with short breaths and consequently his rib cage respiratory movement was limited, his neck range of motion was reduced in all ranges of motion. Due to the increased curve in his upper back, the muscles in the back of his neck were having to pull his head up to bring his eyes looking straight ahead. This prolonged compensation caused those muscles to become symptomatic, causing tension type headaches. His altered breathing mechanics were thought to be from increased stress in the workplace and was restricting the ability of his upper back to move, due to the rib’s attachments to the upper back.
· Treatment was aimed at trying to reduce some of the curve in the upper back to ease the load being placed on the neck. Articulation of the upper back joints were applied, followed by a joint manipulation. Soft tissue work was done through the neck to reduce muscle tension with the aim of reducing symptoms.
For management, some mobility exercises were given to the upper back to improve its function, and some deep breathing exercises were given to improve rib mechanics and reduce stress.