Headache: Chiropractic May Help
It is estimated that employers nationwide spend more than 24 billion dollars every single year related to headache. This includes the wide range of costs such as missed work, doctor visits and visits to the emergency room. One researcher, (Munakata, et al.) reports the price of migraines as a direct cost between $127 and over $7,000 per headache sufferer. Headaches account for approximately 5% of emergency room visits in hospitals. (Friedman, Feldon, Holloway, et.al.)
Headache and Chiropractic
Research studies have indicated that chiropractic care for headache and migraine is highly effective and could save the health care industry literally billions of dollars. In randomized clinical trials (Nelson, Suter, Casha, et al.) it was determined that during the course of chiropractic care, chiropractic was equally effective as amatriptyline or over-the-counter medication for treating migraines. Shockingly however, after treatment was concluded the chiropractic patients reported that their headaches continued to be better, whereas the medicine group reported the need for continued medication. This is a dramatic difference that must be considered in the evaluation and treatment of headaches and the potential cost savings. Most importantly though, the benefits related to the comfort and health of the patient here is obvious.
In addition to better results at lower costs, the chiropractic groups did not have to suffer the side effects of headache medicines. Fully 58% of the drug group reported side effects significant enough to report them. In the group taking amytriptyline, 10% had side effects they considered “intolerable” and had to withdraw from the study. This, in conjunction with the fact that PRESCRIPTION DRUGS ARE NOW THE LEADING CAUSE OF DEATH in the US, ( they overtook auto accidents last year for this dubious honor) chiropractic certainly appears to be a cost effective and safe alternative to medication. How much can this save the employers and headache sufferers in the US? The figure is approximately 13.7 BILLION DOLLARS. Next time you hear someone say that chiropractic is too “dangerous” or too ” expensive, maybe you can refer them to this article.
We might do well to remember here that headaches are a symptom, not a diagnosis. Saying you have a headache simply means you have pain in the head area. The cause is not specified. Headaches may be caused by many factors. Some possible headache causes include: allergy, stress, spinal subluxation or misalignment, blood sugar inbalance, brain tumor among many other possibilities. Medical diagnosis and treatment of underlying conditions may be extremely helpful. However, in many cases, less dangerous and less expensive options lie in the realm of chiropractic treatment of headaches.
On a note close to home, our office has an extremely high rate of success with headaches. Many of our patients have reported that long standing or lifelong headaches have been resolved in as little as a few visits. (see our testimonials) Others have reported a marked decrease in intensity or frequency of headaches after beginning care. Often times, they came in the office for other reasons and got headache relief as a “side effect” of their chiropractic care not even knowing or understanding that chiropractic could or would help them. That is the type of side effect we would all be better off having.
Obviously, chiropractic cannot help all kinds of headaches. However, if your headache or migraine is caused by a problem with the structure of your body, the nervous system, stress or tension or many other types of health imbalance, there is a good chance chiropractic could help you in a natural and safe way. Do you suffer from headaches? Do you take dangerous medication with harmful and dangerous side effects? Have you been told you will simply have to live with the problem? Perhaps chiropractic might be just what you need.