The kids are screaming, you’ve had less than 4 hours of sleep, your work deadline is approaching fast and you haven’t had time for yourself in weeks! To add insult to injury, now you have a raging headache blasting away at your skull like a jackhammer…how are you going to make it through the day?

It’s time to pull the trigger on your pre-set plan to stop this headache dead in its tracks and get back to feeling human again. You need the Headache Survival Guide!

WHAT IS A HEADACHE?

Headaches are one of the MOST common types of pain experienced by the population with 90% experiencing a headache at some point in their lives, 13% in the past year, and 3% suffering from chronic and debilitating headaches.

A headache is defined as pain arising from the structures and tissues that surround the upper neck, brain, and skull.

Types of headaches include migraines, cluster, tension, and 14 other classifications, while the pain can be throbbing, sharp, dull, aching, constant, intense, or mild.

Regardless of type or character, one thing remains true… HEADACHES SUCK!

YOUR HEADACHE SURVIVAL GUIDE

Here are five things you can start doing right away to reduce your headache pain and stop the suffering. Let the healing begin!

Drink Water

This sounds too good to be true. “I can get rid of this throbbing headache by just drinking some water?”

Yes.

In fact, one CBS news report claims up to 75% of the American population could be chronically dehydrated.

When you experience a loss of fluid, the brain itself can shrink and pull away from the skull causing irritation to the structures and pain in your head.

Once re-hydrated, the brain returns to normal and the headache disappears.

Take a Nap

In addition to all of the other benefits of napping, like more energy, better moods, and enhanced memory, participants in some studies have noted that going to sleep was the MOST effective strategy for reducing or resolving a headache.

Get Your Spine Checked

A cerviocogenic headache is characterized by pain perceived in the head but from a source in the tissues of the neck. Those sources could include the discs, ligaments, soft tissues, and blood vessels.

Distortion in the spinal column can exist for years affecting all of these components without presenting any symptoms…much like a cavity can deteriorate a tooth without causing pain.

The best way to determine if a structural problem could be contributing to your headaches is via a detailed analysis by a Life By Design Chiropractor.

Break a Sweat

It’s a common myth that you shouldn’t exercise when you have a headache.

Truthfully, I think it gets perpetuated as more of an excuse than anything else as running around and lifting weights are probably not high on the list when you feel like garbage.

However, if you can muster up the will power, exercise releases endorphins which are the body’s natural painkillers. They can help you reduce the severity of most headaches and impact the frequency of your future episodes.

Eat Well

It’s not new to attempt to reduce headaches by removing food “triggers”, however, it makes more sense to approach nutrition with respect to headaches from a different perspective.

Eating By Design naturally leads to a lower inflammatory response which means less irritation in the brain and an increased capacity for the body to self-repair.

HOW TO GET STARTED

Start with any or all of these five steps as a guide to survive your headaches and better yet, maybe even get rid of them for good.

Dr. Steven Gall has been offering exceptional chiropractic care to infants, children and adults for over 25 years. He has spent his life learning, and improving his knowledge, skills and ability to provide his care. As a public speaker and health coach he strives to assist people in seeing and attaining a life of extraordinary health. Contact the office to join others who have started the same journey.

As if there wasn’t enough to worry about during pregnancy, experiencing back pain can feel like adding insult to injury. If you’re a mom searching for quality information, solutions, and would love to avoid wasting time sifting through miracle cures and magic bullets, these guidelines will give you everything you need to know about low back pain during pregnancy.

What does the data tell us about low back pain during pregnancy?

Dr. Steven Gall has been offering exceptional chiropractic care to infants, children and adults for over 25 years. He has spent his life learning, and improving his knowledge, skills and ability to provide his care. As a public speaker and health coach he strives to assist people in seeing and attaining a life of extraordinary health. Contact the office to join others who have started the same journey.

Given that The World Health Organization estimates the lifetime prevalence of non-specific back pain at 60-70%, it just makes sense that you understand what could be causing it and how to start solving your problem once and for all!

 Here are 9 possible reasons you have back pain.

1. Sciatica

Sciatica is technically not a diagnosis but a description of a grouping of symptoms.

Any condition that increases pressure on the lumbar nerves or directly to the sciatic nerve can cause debilitating pain. 

2. Osteoarthritis

Osteoarthritis can be a byproduct of aging but also a side effect of injury and immobility.

As the cartilage between discs and joints becomes damaged, normal movement can become difficult and painful.

3. Soft Tissues

Strain and sprain injuries to the muscles and ligaments around the spine can be a common source of pain.

This type of pain can be more diffuse and spread further into the muscles along the spine.

4. Disc Degeneration

The deterioration of intervertebral discs can occur with the normal wear and tear of aging or can be accelerated with abnormal forces placed on the spine.

While disc degeneration is not always a cause of back pain, there is a higher incidence of chronic low back pain in those with severe disc degeneration.

5. Herniated Disk

If the spinal discs reach a point where the disc ruptures, increased pressure may be placed directly on the nerve roots or the walls of the disc can become irritated… both causing back pain.

6. Stress

It is common to assume that pain in the back also means there’s a physical problem in that area… research continues to say “not necessarily”.

Stress can affect our levels of back pain and improved management of stress can aid in the recovery process.

7. Smoking

Believe it or not, puffing away on a cigarette can make your back hurt even more.

Whether it is increased joint inflammation or altered blood supply, the chemicals found in cigarettes increase the chance you’ll suffer from back pain.

8. Hypermobility and Weakness

One of the most often missed culprits causing lower back pain is too much movement, especially in the lumbar spine. This is one of the reasons creating more movement in an already mobile lumbar spine could be detrimental.

Strengthening tissues around the spine with compound exercises such as deadlifts (yes I said deadlifts) can be integral to the healing process.

9. Other

Of course, let’s not forget there can be many other causes of back pain.

The source of pain could be postural distortion, indigestion, a urinary tract infection, a fracture or not to scare you… even cancer.

Well, it’s complicated.

If you’ve ever wondered why some people will have success with one intervention while others with back pain are still suffering… now you know.

The most likely scenario is because there’s a mixture of different factors at work.

Try Something Different

With back pain being one of the top reasons for visits to physicians, days off work, and disability, it seems to make sense we approach back pain from a different and multi-factorial perspective.

The shortlist includes:

1. Strength Training, Conditioning and Proper Mobility / Stability
2. Dietary Improvements
3. Bio-Structural Testing and Correction (Corrective Chiropractic)
4. Stress Management

Which of these have you tried?

What worked for you?

Dr. Steven Gall has been offering exceptional chiropractic care to infants, children and adults for over 25 years. He has spent his life learning, and improving his knowledge, skills and ability to provide his care. As a public speaker and health coach he strives to assist people in seeing and attaining a life of extraordinary health. Contact the office to join others who have started the same journey.

Here it comes… the pressure over your left eye, the blurred vision, the feeling like there is a vice squeezing your head and now the throbbing pain has you searching for somewhere to hide.

You are getting another headache.

Luckily this time it’s just a “normal” headache… the kind you seem to get ONLY a couple times a week. That’s so much better than one of those nasty migraine headaches that debilitate you every month!

Of course, they always seem to appear when you have a million things to do and they make every single task exponentially more difficult to complete.

So now comes the most important question:

What are you going to do about it?

Dr. Steven Gall has been offering exceptional chiropractic care to infants, children and adults for over 25 years. He has spent his life learning, and improving his knowledge, skills and ability to provide his care. As a public speaker and health coach he strives to assist people in seeing and attaining a life of extraordinary health. Contact the office to join others who have started the same journey.