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Chronic headaches

Posted by Marc Croker | 3 comments

I have recently treated two women who have suffered from headaches for as long as they could remember.  Nora, a 49 year old woman, reported having migraines since she was a teenager.  Her headaches would last for a few days at a time with pain in and around her eyes.  She would be light sensitive and would have blurry vision.  Nora had no neck pain.

Li, a 41 year old woman, reported having headaches around her forehead for as long as she could remember.  Li had nausea, and vomiting with a throbbing headache.  She reported that vomiting used to relieve her headache but not any more. She also had neck pain and lower back pain.

On examination both women were found to have acute inflammation of the facet joints at C23 with muscle spasm of their sub occipital muscles.  Both women had acutely inflamed rib joints at T4 and tight scalene muscles. Both women were treated using chiropractic manipulation, massage and stretching techniques.

Nora found relief from her headaches after the first adjustment.  She has not suffered from a headache since her first adjustment on the 3 June 2011.  Nora found her headaches were originally preceded by light sensitivity.  She still suffered from some light sensitivity after the first visit but it didn’t result in a headache which she found surprising.  By the fourth visit Nora was no longer feeling any light sensitivity and was generally feeling much better.  She found that she was sleeping better and was beginning to feel less stressed about getting a headache.  It has now been over four months since her last headache.  Nora had a total of 8 chiropractic treatments over the last four months.  Her last visit was 6 weeks ago.

Li has had 6 chiropractic treatments since 10 September 2011.  It took three chiropractic treatments before her headaches disappeared.  It has now been two weeks since her last appointment and she has been headache free and feeling much better.

One of the common things that we find with pain is that the longer you suffer from the symptoms the harder it is to fully alleviate them.  There are of course exceptions to the rule.  Nora and Li are the cases in point.  Here we have two women that have suffered from headaches for decades and their symptoms were completely alleviated within a few treatments.  So what was the cause of their headaches?  In most cases there is inflammation of one of the joints of the upper cervical spine.  This could have been caused by just about anything.  Once pain and inflammation have started there is often a heightened sensitivity which can trigger headaches from even the slightest stress.  The most common causes of neck pain and headaches are poor sleeping positions, working on the computer and stress.

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3 month old baby girl with a torticollis

Posted by Marc Croker | 2 comments

On 24 May 2011 a three month old baby girl was brought into this clinic by her parents who weren’t actually chiropractic patients themselves.  They had noticed that she couldn’t turn her head to the right side at all.  When she was being changed and when she slept she always had her head turned to the left.  When she was being cuddled she would look at people over her left shoulder but wouldn’t turn her head to look at people over her right shoulder.  This little girl had had a normal uncomplicated delivery and was feeding and sleeping normally.

On examination it was noted that she wasn’t feverish or unwell.  She was generally settled and happy while ever her head was turned to the left.  She became uncomfortable and cranky when her head was turned towards the right side.  On palpation it was found that she had an inflamed and restricted facet joint at C12 (upper neck joint) on the left causing an acute torticollis, and there was a mild inflamed facet joint at T67 (mid rib cage).

These joints were treated using the activator (a non manipulative, low force impulse instrument) over five visits.  After the first consultation this little girls parents noticed that she seemed more settled and happier than normal but hadn’t noticed a great deal of improvement in the amount of movement in her neck.  After two visits she was able to turn her neck to the right better.  Her third visit was eleven days after her first visit and she was able to turn her head to the right with ease although she didn’t have full range of movement.  Her last two treatments were each two weeks apart and her symptoms have fully abated.  She is now able to turn her neck fully to the right without any obvious pain or discomfort.  She is also a happier and more settled bub.

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It hurts to run.

Posted by Marc Croker | 0 comments

A 38 year old woman presented to this clinic in July 2010 complaining of lower back pain and right hip pain.  She reported that the pain had started three months prior without any specific injury.  The pain was initially mild but it was getting worse.  It was stopping her from running which is a passion for her – so much so that she had suffered from stress fractures of her right femur and fibula.  In 2006 she had had three pins inserted into her right leg to stabilise the stress fractures in her femur.

Her initial examination revealed a fairly classic presentation of pain with inflammation of the facet joints of L5S1 and obvious muscle spasm of her right gluteal muscles.  There was no restriction of movement of her right hip joint.  There was increased muscle tension in her calf muscles.

Her treatment consisted of chiropractic manipulation to her lower back, specifically at L5S1, to which she reported feeling better.  However after the 4th treatment there was no additional improvement and the pain was returning as soon as she started running.

Further examination revealed that there was no longer any sensitivity of L5S1 on physical examination but there was tenderness on examination of her sacrum (tailbone).  It was discovered that there was pain and restriction of movement when examining the movement of the right side of her sacrum.

Her fifth treatment consisted of manipulation of her sacrum to which she found immediate relief of her pain.  The crucial test of course was to see how she fared while running.

I was delighted to hear on her sixth visit that her pain had significantly subsided and she was able to run for much longer periods before the pain started to return (and this was only mild pain that she felt that she could push through).  After three more chiropractic treatments all of her pain was completely gone and she was able to enjoy her running again without fear of it starting all over again.

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Pregnancy and Chiropractic.

Posted by Marc Croker | 0 comments

One of the most common symptoms that women suffer during pregnancy is back pain. So much so, that if you mention that you are suffering lower back pain during pregnancy to a doctor or an obstetrician they will reassure you that it is a normal symptom of pregnancy. However back pain is not normal. Pain is a sign that something is inflamed and with appropriate treatment your pregnancy can be wonderfully free of lower back pain.

The difference with lower back pain in pregnancy is just that there is extra weight on the joints of the lower back. Once the inflamed joint has been identified and treated the pregnancy can continue without the lower back pain.
The major concern for pregnant women is that chiropractic treatments might have an adverse affect on the unborn baby. Chiropractic manipulation can be safely performed on all levels of the spine throughout pregnancy. This is especially true if you have had chiropractic treatment prior to being pregnant, as your body is already used to being treated and the treatment should only involve a little fine tuning to keep the spine healthy and mobile. If your body has never had any treatment before then it will take time to adapt and respond to the manipulation. Whilst this is not a contraindication to manipulation during the first trimester many women choose to wait until they are past the first three months before beginning treatment. In many cases though your body will be much better for having had treatment and this can only be of benefit to mother and baby.

Pubic symphysis pain and headaches are common symptoms of pregnancy and these symptoms often continue for weeks to months after the baby has been delivered.  The forces applied to the pubic bones can cause misalignment of the pubic bones and even separation of the pubic symphysis.  Recurring headaches are common to women after delivering their baby.  It is not uncommon for the headaches to persist until the pubic pain has subsided.  There are a number of effective chiropractic treatments for misalignment of the pubic bones.

Another common pain during pregnancy is pain around the lower rib cage in the region of the kidneys.  This is often due to pressure from the pregnancy on the lower rib cage towards the end of the pregnancy.  Sore ribs can manifest as either a constant localised ache or it can be sharp catching pain that hurts when breathing.  Certain movements will also cause this pain.

Apart from pain relief during pregnancy, chiropractic manipulation also has the benefit of freeing up restriction in the joints of the pelvis and lower back. This may aid in providing a less stressful delivery as the pelvis is more flexible than it would have been without manipulation.

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Tinnitus

Posted by Marc Croker | 0 comments

A 54 year old man presented to this clinic in October 2010 complaining of a high pitched ringing sound in his ears.  He had been suffering with this tinnitus for the last eight months.  His GP could not find any medical reason for the tinnitus.  He found that the tinnitus was aggravated by certain neck movements and also by putting pressure on his head.  Thinking that it might be coming from his neck he decided to give chiropractic a chance to alleviate his symptoms.  He had previously seen a chiropractor 20 years ago.  In the last two years he had also suffered from a headache on a weekly or fortnightly basis.  The headache was accompanied by some blurry vision and loss of balance.

The short movie below shows how the middle ear works.

On examination it was found that the tinnitus was aggravated by all movements of his neck and by compression of the cervical spine.  It was found that there was acute inflammation of the C12 facet joint on the right side of his neck and there was muscle spasm and pain in his suboccipital muscles.  He also had acutely inflammed ribs on both sides at the level of T34.  Otherwise the rest of his spine and musculoskeletal system was unremarkable.

An upper cervical adjustment was performed on the initial consultation and there was an immediate relief of the tinnitus in the right ear.  There was no change in the tinnitus in the L ear.  By the third consultation there was a definite improvement in the tinnitus in both ears.  By the fifth and final consultation the patient reported that there was no longer any tinnitus, and that he had complete relief of his headaches.

This patient suffered from subjective tinnitus and the most common cause of this disorder in the absence of any ear pathology is inflammation of the upper cervical spine or inflammation of the tempero-mandibular joint.  It is thought to be the result of abnormal neuronal activity caused by inflamed structures immediately adjacent to the ear canal.

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