SOME OF THE MOST COMMON
CONDITIONS WE TREAT:
Neck Pain and Stiffness
Pain, stiffness, or discomfort in the muscles, nerves, joints, or vertebrae of the neck (cervical spine). While often caused by muscle strain or poor posture, it may also indicate underlying conditions.
Whiplash
Whiplash is an injury to the structures of your neck caused when your head moves suddenly in one direction and then back quickly beyond your control. This can it stretch the soft tissues such as muscles and tendons and lead to pain and discomfort in your neck and shoulders.
Tension Headache
A tension headache is the most common type of headache, characterized by mild-to-moderate, non-throbbing pain that feels like a tight band or vice around the head.
Occipital Neuralgia
Occipital neuralgia is a type of chronic headache disorder that causes intense, stabbing, or electric-shock-like pain in the upper neck, back of the head, and behind the ears
Cluster Headaches
A cluster headache is a rare, intensely painful neurological disorder characterised by recurring, short-lived attacks of severe, one-sided pain, typically centered around one eye or temple.
Migraine
A migraine is a complex, chronic neurological disorder, not just a severe headache. It is characterised by recurring, moderate-to-severe throbbing or pulsing pain, typically on one side of the head, often accompanied by nausea, vomiting, and extreme sensitivity to light, sound, or smell. Attacks can last from 4 to 72 hours and significantly disrupt daily life
Menstrual or Hormonal Headache and Migraine
A menstrual migraine is a severe headache linked to the menstrual cycle, typically occurring two days before to three days after the start of a period due to falling estrogen levels
Hemiplegic Migraine
A hemiplegic migraine is a rare, serious subtype of migraine with aura, characterised by temporary motor weakness or paralysis on one side of the body. It is often accompanied by other aura symptoms like sensory changes, numbness, speech difficulties, or visual disturbances.
Vestibular Migraine (vertigo)
A vestibular migraine is a neurological condition causing repeated dizziness, vertigo (spinning sensations), or imbalance, often without a severe headache.
How do I know if I have a migraine?
There are a number of different classification systems for headaches. The most well-recognised is that of the International Headache Society, which classifies headaches into more than 150 types of headaches. Headaches are broadly classified as "primary" or “secondary". Secondary headaches are caused by an underlying disease such as infection, tumour or aneurysm. However, these causes are generally quite rare. They commonly have recognisable symptoms and western medicine is adept at spotting them. In the absence of a secondary cause a persistent headache is generally categorised as Primary.
Primary headaches are benign, recurrent headaches that have no clear cause and where no underlying disease or structural problems can be identified. For example, migraine is classified as a primary headache. Primary headaches are incredibly common and will affect about half of the adult population in any given year.
There are various categories of migraine headaches according to the international categorisation of headache disorders (ICDH3). However, these categorisations depend solely upon the report of your symptoms during your headache state. The categorisation will give your headache a label but provides no insight to the cause.
However, Migraines are often categorised into Migraines with aura and Migraines without aura, the most common type being without aura.
An aura is the gradual development of neurological symptoms prior to the onset of Migrainous head pain. These symptoms are typically present for 20 to 45 minutes prior to the onset of pain.
Symptoms can include changes in sensation (tingling, numbness, pins and needles), altered vision (blurring, blind spots, lights, colours, lines or shapes), slurred speech or loss of coordination.
Migraine pain is commonly described as throbbing or pulsating and is typically located on one side of the head. The side of pain may change within or between episodes. The pain intensity ranges from moderate to severe and can last from 4 hours to 3 days in duration.
Symptoms can also include sensitivity to light, sound and smell, neck pain or stiffness, dizziness, nausea, vomiting and disturbance of vision. Migraine with auras cause you to experience visual disturbances alongside standard migraine symptoms. Migraines without aura, however, tend to consist of standard migraine symptoms, such as nausea, intense head pain, vomiting, and light or sound sensitivity.
What It Is A Migraine And How To Do I Treat It?
Clinical studies have shown that the neck is often at the centre of of headaches and migraines in over 80% of sufferers. But why? It seems the upper vertebrae sometimes send too much sensory nerve information to the brain stem, causing an overload or “sensitisation”. The brainstem lies at the base of the brain where it descends from the skull to become the spinal cord travelling down into neck and beyond. Within medical literature there is now widespread agreement that the underlying disorder in Migraine is a sensitised brainstem.
A particular collection of nuclei in the brain stem, known as the Trigeminal Cervical Nuclei (TCN), receive sensory signals from both the neck and the face. If this area receives a lot of signals for example if the neck joints are irritated, it can can become sensitised. Once the TCN is sensitised the brain can interpret these signals as head pain leading to headache or migraine.
What Makes The Brainstem Sensitive?
Research shows there are four possible reasons the lower brainstem becomes sensitised — the key issue in headaches and migraines:
- Abnormal signals from inside the head – such as infections, aneurysms or tumours. These are commonly ruled out by MRI or CT scans.
- Reduced pain-control systems – when your nervous system is working well, it can dampen pain messages so that you don’t feel them so intensely. Sometimes, this system doesn’t work as well.
- Low serotonin levels – Serotonin is a key neurotransmitter found in the TCN. However, there is no test available to measure these levels
- Irritable neck joints – disorders in the upper cervical spine can send constant “pain signals” to the brainstem. When the upper cervical spine is irritable the brain commonly interprets this as head pain. Because scans of the brain often come back clear, the neck is a strong suspect.
How Can The Neck Trigger Headaches?
- Dysfunction in the top three vertebrae of the neck sends a steady flow of pain signals into the brainstem.
- These signals make the brainstem more sensitive over time.
- Once sensitised, the brainstem overreacts to everyday triggers like stress, tiredness, dehydration, food sensitivities, or hormonal changes.
- Instead of managing these triggers normally, the sensitive brainstem reports these signals as a headache or migraine.
