Natural Relief from Migraines

The Truth about Migraines 

In 2012 The Pittsburgh Post Gazette reported that 36 million Americans suffer from migraine headaches.

Migraine Facts

• Between 30 million and 36 million Americans, including children, suffer from migraine headaches. That’s more than 10 percent of the population and more than the number of people with diabetes and asthma combined.
• Nearly one in four U.S. households includes someone with migraines.
• Migraines disproportionately affect women. As many as 27 million women in the United States suffer from migraines, three times as many as men.
• American employers lose more than $13 billion each year as a result of 113 million lost work days due to migraine.
• Migraine ranks in the top 20 of the world’s most disabling medical illnesses.
• Every 10 seconds, someone in the United States goes to the emergency room with a headache or migraine.

Pain Relief

Most people seek a doctor’s opinion after over-the-counter treatments have failed. In the Post Gazette several doctors reference many treatments that have limited success, these treatments include: vitamins, over 30 medications, and Botox in an effort to cope with migraine symptoms. There is research from chiropractors who specialize in the upper neck (upper cervical spine) have had much success with migraines. These chiropractors use specific tools and procedures to assess Atlas/C1 and Axis/C2 vertebra for misalignments (subluxations). If a misalignment is detected x-rays are taken to specifically locate the exact problem and tailor the correct adjustment. A recent study showed a patient suffering with migraines for 63 years, experienced relief after only 2 specific Blair chiropractic adjustments over the course of 10 weeks.

Blair is an upper cervical technique that uses very little force and patients are only adjusted when needed. If you are suffering from migraines in Pittsburgh or Cranberry Township, and have not had success using traditional treatments it is important to have the upper neck examined by an upper cervical chiropractor for misalignments that may be contributing to the cause of migraines.

References:

1. Smith P. Home News Local Sports Opinion A & E Life Business Video Photo Advertisement Migraines affect as many as 36 million Americans’, Pittsburgh Post Gazette. 2 July 2012: http://www.post-gazette.com/news/health/2012/07/02/Migraines-affect-as-many-as-36-million-Americans/stories/201207020168.
2. Migraine research Foundation. MIgraine Fact Sheet.. http://www.migraineresearchfoundation.org/fact-sheet.html (accessed 13 February 2014).
3. Verderame J, Hollowell J. Cone-beam Computerized Tomography for the Bio-mechanical Assessment of the Occipito-Atlanto-Axial Articulation in a 75-Year-Old Woman with Migraines Undergoing Blair Technique. J Upper Cervical Chiropr Res, July 22, 2013:60-4.