In the September 2001 issue of the Journal of Manipulative and Physiological Therapeutics was a report on the effectiveness of chiropractic care, specifically labeled "SMT" in the study, for patients with chronic headaches.  The data for this report was gathered from nine trials involving 683 patients with chronic headache.

In this study chiropractic adjustments (termed SMT in the study) were compared to massage and medications for short term relief of up to six weeks after a month of care.  The question of long term health benefits was not addressed.  Results showed that the chiropractic group did better than the massage group.  The group that received medication also showed relief however, the rate of  side effects for the medication group was considerably higher than the chiropractic group.  This difference gave a decidedly large advantage to chiropractic over the medication.  

According to the report, the financial cost of headaches is great, with billions of dollars spent annually for lost productivity and treatment.  The study also noted that people affected with headaches have commonly been treated by medical practitioners. Recently however, they are increasingly turning to non-medical or alternative therapies for relief.  A recent study from Harvard University  by Dr. Eisenberg reported that one of the most common alternative practitioners sought out for the treatment of headaches was the chiropractor.  This study confirms what most chiropractors and their patients have already known, that chiropractic is one of the most effective avenues of health for headache sufferers.

Another recent study has suggested, however, that chiropractic treatments can decrease the frequency and length of headaches as well as the number of painkillers needed for relief. Dr. Niels Nilsson of Odense University in Odense, Denmark, and Dr. Geoffrey Bove of Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center and Harvard Medical School, have studied the impact of chiropractic treatment on headaches. They have found that chiropractic treatment can work, but accurate diagnosis of the headache is key to efficacy. The diagnosis of tension headaches relies on very general symptoms.

Unfortunately, these symptoms can mask a headache of a different nature: cervicogenic headaches (originating in the cervical / neck region). Dr. Nilsson estimates that 15-20 percent of all recurrent headaches are cervicogenic.

Cervicogenic headaches are characterized by pain on one side of the head with associated neck pain on the same side. A patient with these headaches perceives pain in the head, but the actual source of the pain lies in the cervical spine.

This distinction is important, because cervicogenic headaches improve upon chiropractic spinal manipulation. Dr. Nilsson says, "My 1997 study showed that a group of cervicogenic headache patients who received spinal manipulation and soft tissue therapy did significantly better than a similar group which received only soft tissue therapy. Spinal manipulation in itself has a significant effect on cervicogenic headaches."

The most recent study indicates that, in contrast to cervicogenic headaches that respond specifically to spinal manipulation, tension headaches respond to chiropractic intervention regardless of whether or not spinal manipulation was performed. Dr. Bove says, "This study shows that tension-type headaches do respond to hands-on therapy, but that cervical spinal manipulation is unlikely to be the factor that affects change."

Dr. Norman Harden, director of the Center for Pain Studies at the Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago, believes the study was well designed. "All in all a very good study, considering the impossibility of blinding a chiropractic procedure. This study, a very vast amount of anecdotal and empiric evidence and now some legitimate studies such as this support the use of chiropractic treatment for tension-type headaches," he says. Most chiropractic patients have yet to realize the contribution chiropractic intervention can make to headache improvements. Only about two percent of patients visit a chiropractor for headache relief.

"Mary" is an example of the typical patient who turned to chiropractic treatment for her sore back. She was pleased to discover that the treatment could also eradicate her headaches. "I began to see a chiropractor for my back problems," she says. "During the treatment for back pain, I casually mentioned my almost daily "normal" tension headaches. My chiropractor advised me that a headache is not "normal". He recommended a few simple lifestyle changes and performed spinal manipulations. With the help of my chiropractor, I haven't had any notable headaches now for close to 10 years."

Yet another report released by the Foundation for Chiropractic Education and Research (FCER) show the effectiveness of chiropractic care for sufferers of Tension Headaches.  The story released February of 2001, was the continuation of a release of a study done at Duke University several years earlier.  In the study many different types of physical and  behavioral treatments were used for patients with headaches.  Chiropractic care was specifically compared to amitriptyline, a common medication used for headaches.

In this study the staff at the Duke Center screened articles from the literature, created evidence tables, and analyzed the quality and magnitude of results from these studies. They then drafted an evidence report with peer review from a panel of 25 reviewers, including researchers and clinicians in chiropractic.

The results showed that chiropractic was highly effective for patients with tension headaches. When compared with the drug amitriptyline, chiropractic and the drug had similar short term effects during the episode.  However, the drug carried with it an adverse reaction rate in 82% of the patients. 

The most profound effects were seen after the care was discontinued in the study.  In these instances the patients who were on drug therapy essentially returned to the same state as before.  However, the patients who were under chiropractic care continued to show sustained reduction in headache frequency and severity even after the chiropractic care was discontinued.  The implications are that chiropractic is not actually a therapy or treatment, but rather gets to the cause allowing the body to effect a correction that lasts beyond actual care.

 When you are ready to get started  resolving your headaches with chiropractic you can call Dr. Adrain Sturdevant at 479-582-4325.  We are located in Fayetteville, AR.