Migraines in Cranberry Township
Do you suffer from migraines? If you do, you are not alone. About 12% of the U.S. Population, which is about one in every eight people, suffer from migraines. The bad news is no one is quite sure what causes all migraines. The good news is new research shows one cause of migraines and many other types of headaches may be a misalignment of the upper neck.
New Research into Cerebral Venous Flow
So often it is easy to think our blood just naturally flows the way it should and we don’t need to worry about it. Most of the time, that is true. However, in order for the right amount of blood to get to the right places in our bodies, our upper cervical vertebrae must be properly aligned. A misalignment of the Atlas vertebra, which is the upper most vertebra that our head rests on, hinders the cerebral venous flow—blood flow from the brain.
According to new research, such a misalignment interacts with the Trigeminovascular System, which consists of neurons in one of the nerves in your face and is responsible for your face’s sensation. It is also thought to be the reason for some headaches due to it causing the cranial circulation’s innervation that causes an irritation to the nerves. This means the cause of your migraine may be due to those neurons influencing the cerebral blood flow.
Upper Cervical and Migraines
Another factor in the misalignment of the Atlas is that it may affect the cerebral blood flow to the brain stem nuclei. That misalignment not only affects the cerebral blood flow, but it also affect the flow of the cerebrospinal fluid. That’s the fluid that surrounds the brain and spinal cord and protects the brain and spine from injury. The research is not conclusive, but case studies have shown a correction of the Atlas vertebra leads to better cerebral blood flow from our brains, and flow of cerebrospinal fluid to our brains and body.
So, what does all of this mean for you? It means you don’t have to just live with those migraines. It means the medication you are taking may be covering the symptoms, but they are not getting to the root cause of your migraines.
