Headache and Migraine

If you suffer from debilitating migraine headaches, our dedicated team at Brisbane West Osteopathy is here to provide effective migraine headache treatment to help you find relief. Migraine pain can be excruciating and severely impact your quality of life, but rest assured that we have the expertise and resources to address both chronic migraine and acute migraine attacks.

Our approach to treating migraines involves a comprehensive strategy that combines acute treatment for immediate pain relief and preventive treatment to reduce the frequency and severity of migraine attacks. We understand that each individual’s experience with migraines is unique, so we tailor our treatment plans to your specific needs and symptoms.

For acute treatment of migraine headaches, we may utilize a variety of techniques, including manual therapy, targeted exercises, and other non-invasive interventions. These approaches aim to relieve migraine pain and provide you with much-needed relief during an acute attack. In addition to these measures, we may also discuss the use of pain-relieving medications to help manage the symptoms and intensity of migraine attacks.

Treatment Brisbane

In cases of chronic migraines, we focus on preventive treatment strategies to reduce the frequency and intensity of your migraines over time. This may involve lifestyle modifications, stress management techniques, dietary adjustments, and the use of preventive medications when necessary. Our goal is to empower you with the tools and knowledge to better manage your migraines and regain control over your daily life.

If you are tired of living with the debilitating effects of migraine headaches, don’t hesitate to seek treatment at Brisbane West Osteopathy. Our experienced team is dedicated to helping you find relief and improve your overall well-being by providing effective treatment for migraine headaches.

At Brisbane West Osteopathy, we develop treatment plans for relaxing tight muscles and joints in your neck. Our patients often report effective relief from headache and migraine pain after treatment. We believe this is because of our unique approach to diagnosis and treatment. This approach involves carefully assessing the biomechanics of the rest of your body, particularly the pelvis. If your pelvis is asymmetrical, we find this can cause neck dysfunction and headaches. We, therefore, treat your pelvis as well as your neck and jaw.

Neck/cervical spine dysfunction results in many types of headaches because the nerves supplying the head originate in the neck. So when you experience a headache, it’s often in fact, pain referred from your neck. This is like sciatica, which is referred pain from the sciatic nerve in your lower back.

For headache and migraine treatment Brisbane, contact us today.

What Type of Headaches Can We Help With?

At Brisbane West Osteopathy, headaches and migraines are some of the most common complaints we treat. Our unique approach to treatment can assist with many different types of headaches including: 

Tension Headaches 

As the name suggests, this headache type is often triggered by your body’s response to stress. However, tension headaches can also be caused by prolonged poor posture or jaw problems. While you can often still function, it may feel like a band of pressure is growing tighter and tighter around your head.

Cervicogenic Headaches

The name simply means this headache originates within the vertebrae, joints or muscles of your neck (the cervical spine). It’s the type of headache you may experience if you sustain whiplash. However many people experience cervicogenic headaches as a result of everyday stressors on the neck. With this type of headache, you may feel neck pain and/or stiffness, plus a constant ache at a precise spot, often behind your eyes.

Common and Classic Migraines

Migraines can be debilitating and are characterised by throbbing pain to one side or part of the head. However, the pain can shift to different sides of the head between episodes.  Classical migraine sufferers can experience vision changes (including blurred vision, auras and sensitivity to light or photophobia), nausea and vomiting, dizziness and tinnitus and sometimes even changes in speech and swallowing. With common migraines, you experience pain around one eye without changes in vision or nausea. 

One theory about migraines is that they are intimately connected to the vertebral artery. This artery runs up the back of the neck and between the suboccipital muscles. We treat migraines based on the understanding that when these suboccipital muscles tighten excessively, it impacts the vertebral artery. Think of it as like finding a kink in a hose, which slows the flow of water through it. Initially, this ‘kink’ reduces the blood supply to the back of the head. Other blood vessels open up to compensate. This is what causes the pounding headache.

Cluster Headaches

Headaches of this nature are excruciating and tend to manifest suddenly and unexpectedly. It’s not well understood what causes them; however, they have been linked to the trigeminal nerve and hypothalamus. While they have many symptoms in common with migraines, one key symptomatic difference is the way sufferers behave. If you have a migraine, you’ll generally feel the need to lie down and stay still and quiet. If you have a cluster headache, you’ll likely want to pace or fidget**.  

Trigeminal Neuralgia

This type of headache is the result of pressure on the trigeminal nerve. This can create debilitating pain in your teeth, gums, jaw, lips, and sometimes eyes or forehead. The mandibular branch of the trigeminal nerve runs around the mandible bone (jawbone). Changes within the jaw joint and surrounding muscles can impact this nerve, causing trigeminal neuralgia.

Our Unique Approach to Headache

As osteopaths, we take a holistic approach to treating your headache or migraine pain. We do this by looking for any underlying biomechanical causes. We use a custom system to do this. Our principal osteopath, Dr Joachim Enevoldsen initially developed this system which he named Osteo Diagnostic Platform (ODP). ODP helps us diagnose and treat the pelvis and neck differently. Think of your pelvis as the foundation of your body. When your pelvis is out of alignment it has a cascading effect through the rest of your body.

At Brisbane West Osteopathy, we offer comprehensive and effective treatment options for individuals experiencing migraine pain and chronic migraines. Our experienced team understands the debilitating impact of migraines on your daily life and is committed to providing personalized care to alleviate migraine symptoms and improve your overall well-being.

Whether you are dealing with acute migraine attacks or living with chronic migraines, our tailored treatment plans aim to address your specific needs. We utilize a combination of acute treatment and preventive strategies to target migraine pain and manage the frequency and severity of migraine episodes.

Migraine Treatment Brisbane

During acute treatment, we employ various techniques, including manual therapy and targeted exercises, to provide relief from headache pain and alleviate migraine symptoms. Our goal is to help you find immediate relief and restore your comfort during a migraine attack. Additionally, we work closely with you to develop preventive strategies that may involve lifestyle modifications, stress management techniques, and the appropriate use of medications to reduce the frequency and intensity of migraine attacks over time.

If you are experiencing severe headaches, migraine pain, or other symptoms associated with migraines, don’t suffer in silence. Seek our expert care at Brisbane West Osteopathy, where we are dedicated to helping you find effective solutions for managing and treating migraines. Our team will work closely with you to develop a personalized treatment plan that addresses your unique needs and provides long-lasting relief from migraine headache pain.

While no one treatment will fix everyone, ODP has been used to treat thousands of patients. Many chronic headache and migraine sufferers experience lasting relief after being treated with ODP. These are patients who have often been unresponsive to other treatments.

For migraine treatment Brisbane, make your booking.

References

*Deloitte Access Economics

** National Organization for Rare Diseases