Tension, Migraine, or Cervicogenic
One of the first questions Green Chiropractic’s doctors ask new headache patients is simple: why do you think you’re getting headaches? Most people pause and admit they don’t really know, that’s what they’re hoping to find out. After years of treating headache patients, the team has found that many people have never actually been given an answer to that question. Instead, they’ve been given medication to manage the pain.
Pain Relief and Finding the Cause Are Different Goals
Headache medications, whether over-the-counter or prescription, can be genuinely helpful, especially in the middle of a bad episode. But pain relief and identifying the cause are two different things. If headaches keep returning week after week or month after month, it’s worth asking whether an underlying issue has never actually been addressed.
Not All Headaches Are the Same
Before looking at the cause, it helps to know what kind of headache is actually happening. Here are the three most common types we see at the practice:
- Tension headaches — a dull, tight, band-like pressure around the forehead or the back of the head, often tied to muscle tension in the neck and shoulders.
- Migraines — often one-sided, throbbing, and paired with nausea, light sensitivity, or visual disturbances.
- Cervicogenic headaches — pain that starts in the neck and radiates into the head, frequently made worse by certain neck positions or movements.
Many patients come in convinced they have migraines when they’re actually experiencing tension or cervicogenic headaches. Getting the type right matters, because different headaches respond to different care.
Structural Changes Our Doctors Commonly See
Traditional chiropractic adjustments are excellent for restoring motion to joints that aren’t moving properly, and improving joint motion can reduce stiffness and help many patients feel better. But restoring motion isn’t always the same as correcting the structural changes that created the stress in the first place. Many recurring headache patients have one or more of these findings:
- Forward head posture (anterior head carriage), where the head sits in front of the shoulders instead of directly over them
- Thoracic hyperkyphosis, an excessive rounding of the upper back
- Loss of the normal cervical curve, sometimes called a “military neck”
- Cervical kyphosis, where the neck’s forward curve has reversed
These postural and structural changes increase mechanical stress on the muscles, joints, ligaments, and other tissues of the neck, and in some patients that stress contributes to recurring headaches.
Why Alignment Matters
Think about a car with its alignment off. Replacing worn tires helps for a while, but if the alignment itself isn’t corrected, the new tires wear unevenly all over again. The spine works the same way: if the underlying structure keeps placing abnormal stress on the neck, the symptoms tend to keep returning. That’s why our chiropractors don’t stop at asking where it hurts. They want to understand why it’s hurting.
Our Team’s Approach to Headache Care
Every headache evaluation includes a detailed structural assessment, including posture analysis, spinal movement, and imaging when clinically appropriate. From there, care is built around each patient’s individual findings and may include chiropractic adjustments, corrective traction, and postural rehabilitation aimed at the structural cause rather than just the symptom.
Ready for Answers?
Anyone who has lived with headaches for years has probably become an expert at managing the pain, whether through medication, massage, or waiting it out. But if the real cause is never identified, it’s easy to spend years chasing the next episode instead of preventing it.
For patients ready for a comprehensive evaluation that looks beyond symptom management, Green Chiropractic and the Omaha Headache Clinic offer exactly that. Reach out to us today to book an appointment.