HEADACHE TREATMENT
Headaches are within the top five most common complaints we treat at Aleck Pain to Performance.
Headaches can happen for many reasons; many of them can be traced back to the neck or surrounding musculature.
Migraines, tension/cervicogenic headaches, and cluster headaches are the main forms of primary headache disorders.
What Causes Headaches and How can they be Treated?
The body positions you are in play a critical role regarding neck pain, which can cause pain in the head region, triggering a headache. Today’s world that involves living with desk jobs, poor sleeping habits, and excessive technology use can have a large influence on headaches. The muscles, tendons, and ligaments of our neck are pain sensitive and can send symptoms to other areas of the body when not moving properly or enough.
Rarely is a cervicogenic headache a serious or structural problem, i.e., arthritis, degeneration; rather an imbalance of positions, postures, and movements. Since it is a movement problem, it requires a movement solution, such as rehab and structured at self-care. It is common for patients with cervicogenic headaches to have little to no relief with taking over-the-counter medications, which can become frustrating and concerning.
How can we help?
The most researched treatments for headaches are rest, medication, physical therapy, chiropractic, acupuncture, massage, and other various conservative therapies.
It is important to get your headaches evaluated by a professional to determine appropriate classification and course of treatment. Commonly, we find cervicogenic headaches to be the result of a problem of the neck joints and muscles just below the base of the skull, which can easily be treated with rehab, manual therapy, and adjustments.
At Aleck Pain to Performance, instead of making the patient dependent on seeing us in the office for headache relief, we teach them how to catch the beginning stages of any potential headache and how to control it on their own. Headaches can be spontaneous or often occurring at inconvenient times and getting into our office to be treated during a busy workday or road trip is not always an option. We believe in patient empowerment and self-care, the ability to control your own pain is a huge component of that.
We can’t all live perfect lives where we avoid bad postures and prolonged sitting or driving, but understanding what your triggers are and how to control them is critical. Restoring ranges of motion and making the surrounding muscles and tissues around the head and neck strong with rehab is where the treatment plan goes to make you less sensitive to external stressors and therefore not as susceptible to headaches in the long run.
Assessment, your first step to recovery
The assessment process is the most important part of the Aleck Pain to Performance experience.
You will go through a detailed exam to determine exactly where your pain is coming from.
Depending on the needs of the patient, the examination process may consist of: functional evaluation, orthopedic assessment, neurological assessment, soft tissue palpation/assessment, or joint motion palpation.
The Plan
Once your assessment is complete, we sit down together and walk you through your plan to recovery. We discuss a timeline, and what treatments will catapult the speed of recovery, and what stretches, exercises and any minor modifications in your day to day life that need to take place outside of clinic.
Fast and effective follow-ups
Follow up appointments are 20 minutes in length of 1-on-1 treatment doing everything possible to speed up care. Most patients start noticing changes within their first day of treatment, and it’s very rare that people aren’t starting to notice improvements after just 2-3 visits.
“Dr. Aleck helped me recover and had me back to exercising within ONE month. I am now back running feeling better than ever!”
Brendan Sleeman, Accountant
“Within one month, not only were my pain issues resolved, I was on an entirely new path to achieving completely new levels of performance.”
Sonny Byrd, Business Professional
“Today I ran over 2.5 miles-after my previous doctor and physical therapists told me I’d never run again! ”
Norman Poole
Contrary to traditional chiropractic clinics, we don’t make you come back multiple times a week for months on end, wasting both time and money. We quickly identify the underlying issue, provide hands-on treatment, and educate you on how YOU can be an active participant in your recovery process.
11 S White Street
#201 - Frankfort, IL.
Chiropractor Serving Frankfort, Mokena, New Lenox, and Tinley Park, IL
Copyright Aleck Pain to Performance 2023