About headaches & how we can help
If you’re suffering from headaches or migraines, you’re not alone. 1 out of 6 Americans suffer from headaches, and over 8 million people a year ago go to their primary doctor complaining of headaches. You’ve come to the right place if you’re checking out Holistic Health & Chiropractic of Frankfort.
Are headaches Normal?
Do you, or someone you know in or around Frankfort, IL, suffer from headaches? Would you believe me if I told you that for the most part headaches cause unnecessary suffering? You’re probably saying "But doc, I have headaches that everyone else has. Aren't they common?"
While headaches may be common, they’re not normal. You may be thinking that you don’t have a headache that often. I might agree with you if you had a headache maybe once maybe twice a year. If you’re having just two headaches a week, do you realize that’s over 100 headaches a year? That is NOT normal. That is your body’s way of giving you an alarm that something is wrong and needs to be corrected.
Types of Headaches
Tension Headaches
Often people will feel this type of headache start in the lower neck and move to the base of the skull, side by the ears and to the forehead, even behind the eyes.
Migraines
- Often a person will feel moderate to severe throbbing in one side of the head or both
- Nausea or vomiting
- Light, smell or sound sensitivity
- Worse with movement
- May last 4 to 72 hours
- May have an aura as warning sign headache is coming on
Sinus Headaches
- Often sharp, stabbing or burning sensation on one side by temple or through eye socket
- Can last 15 minutes to a few hours
- Follows pattern of occurrence
Red Flags that Headaches Could be More than a Headache
- Systemic symptoms including fever
- Neoplasm history of neurologic deficit (including decreased consciousness)
- Sudden or abrupt onset in older individuals (65+)
- Pattern change or recent onset of new headache
- Positional headache precipitated by sneezing, coughing, or exercise
- Papilledema (optic nerve swelling) blurred or double vision, loss of vision
- Progressive headache and atypical presentations
- Pregnancy or postpartum
- Painful eye with blurred vision, redness, and pupil changes
- Post traumatic onset of headache
- Pathology of the immune system such as HIV
- Painkiller overuse or new drug at onset of headache
Chiropractic Care for Headaches
Research is showing that 60 to 70 percent of all headaches have a cervicogenic origin. That’s frontal headaches, sinus headaches, occipital headaches, migraines, and even cluster headaches. All major types of headaches originate in the neck. Maybe that sounds frustrating to you because you’ve gone to your medical doctor and not gotten satisfactory answers about what’s causing your headaches, or even worse, fewer solutions. Maybe your doctor did an x-ray, CT, or MRI of your head. I’m not telling you he did anything wrong, I’m just saying he may have missed the spot by a couple of inches and needed to look below your head into your neck.
The vertebrae in your neck should have normal range of motion. They should be able to bend left, right, forward, backward, rotate, and have good play in between the joints. Unfortunately, some people have vertebrae or joints that are stuck are fixed in place. We chiropractors call this a subluxation. Subluxations can cause nerve interference, which in turn causes pain. To remedy this problem, we make specific corrections to restore the proper spinal alignment, which removes any nerve interference the subluxation was causing. This allows the body to heal itself.
There may be some people who have been to chiropractors before and not gotten the relief they are looking for. Not all chiropractors do things the same way and no two are exactly alike. Many times, the source of a problem is more complex than just the neck and we need to look at the patient’s whole posture.
Proper Posture
In this picture, you’ll see three upside-down triangles. The big one at the bottom represents the pelvis, the foundation of the spine. The second triangle in the middle is the trunk of the body, and the third is the head sitting on the neck. You’ll see the jaw as a right-side-up triangle and swings like a pendulum. When everything is properly aligned, then the body is balanced. Imbalances in any of these places will create distortions in the posture and spine that manifest pain in the head, neck, and jaw. So often postural subluxations are overlooked, but when corrected, the problem resolves.
Treating Headaches & Migraines in Frankfort, IL
If you're tired of dealing with headaches every day, our Holistic chiropractor, Dr. Jon Heyer, can help you achieve relief. Schedule your appointment today by calling us at (815) 469-7472. Below are a couple of other approaches we consider when resolving your headaches and migraines.
Acupuncture for Headaches
Acupuncture is excellent for helping address tension and migraine headaches which are the two most common types of headaches, but how does it work?
Somewhere behind a wall are wires, going from the light switch to the light in the room. You can’t see the wires and you can’t see the electricity flowing through the wires, but you can see the result: the light that illuminates the room. Your brain and nervous system are very similar to this. Your brain is like a giant battery which sends electric signals through the nerves to the rest of the body. If you want to do a bicep curl to lift a weight or wiggle your fingers to play the piano, your brain sends an electric signal down a nerve to the muscles to coordinate movement in your arm or hand.
Your nerves function like wires for your body. Even though you can’t see your own nerves or the wires in the wall, you know they are there because you can see the end result. An electrician can tell you if a wire is hot and live by using a voltmeter. If there is an electric current running through a wire, there is a magnetic field around that wire.
When it comes to your nerves, we have many names for this magnetic field. Some call it an aura, a meridian, a channel, or what have you. It doesn't matter what you call it, the important part is that there is a flow of energy through the body that brings balance and homeostasis to the whole. If there is a blockage, excess, or any kind of interference in that distribution of energy, symptoms can manifest and in many cases these symptoms are headaches.
We use a type of acupuncture called electro-acupuncture to rebalance any disturbances or interferences in your system to restore homeostasis. Put another way, your cell phone works best on a full charge compared to when the battery is almost dead. So too does your body. We charge up your system to function better.
Nutrition for Headaches
There can be many causes and contributing factors from a nutritional perspective that can cause headaches. Food can be a cause. I know what you are saying: “but doc, I had a food allergy test and they found nothing.” Ok, but did they do a food sensitivity test? Do you know the difference? Probably not, but most doctors don’t either.
Did they test your mineral and vitamin levels? “But doc, what’s that got to do with headaches?” Many cases of headache sufferers have a deficiency in magnesium. But how would you know if you weren’t properly tested?
Would you believe that gut issues, digestive issues, and microbiome imbalances could be the primary problem with headaches as a secondary symptom, but the one that screams the loudest? Maybe you feel like you’ve tried everything. Maybe you have, at least everything that contemporary medicine considers. Yet, you have no answers, and worse, still have headaches.
That’s why we need to look at your nutrition from a functional perspective. When we consider your health from a Holistic approach, we can help end your headaches for good. We look for deficiencies such as: folic acid deficiency, omega 3 fatty acids, curcumin, riboflavin, magnesium, CO Q10, and vitamin D.
Other important factors to look at are testing to find any hidden Food sensitivities, making sure you’re not dehydrated and investigating the connections between the gut/brain connection which can play a major role in hormonal imbalances leading to headaches.
Holistic Health & Chiropractic Care in Frankfort, IL
Ready to find relief for your headaches?
Tired of dealing with constant headaches and migraines? At Holistic Health & Chiropractic of Frankfort, we specialize in addressing the root causes of headaches, providing personalized care to help you find lasting relief. Our expert chiropractor, Dr. Jon K. Heyer, D.C., is here to help. Discover the difference chiropractic care can make in your life.
Our chiropractor can help today! Call us to schedule an appointment at: (815) 469-7472
Contact Us Today
Frequently Asked Questions about headaches
If any of the following describe you, you should seek medical attention asap
- Systemic symptoms including fever
- Neoplasm history of neurologic deficit (including decreased consciousness)
- Sudden or abrupt onset in older individuals (65+)
- Pattern change or recent onset of new headache
- Positional headache precipitated by sneezing, coughing, or exercise
- Papilledema (optic nerve swelling) blurred or double vision, loss of vision
- Progressive headache and atypical presentations
- Pregnancy or postpartum
- Painful eye with blurred vision, redness, and pupil changes
- Post traumatic onset of headache
- Pathology of the immune system such as HIV
- Painkiller overuse or new drug at onset of headache
60-70% of all headaches have an origin in the cervical spine. Other contributing factors can include food sensitivities, nutrient deficiencies, toxic excesses, and stress
Since 60-70% of headaches have a cervicogenic origin, correcting spinal misalignments is key. It is also important to investigate if other factors may be contributing to the headache.
Work with a Holistic Chiropractor to determine what the underlying causes to your headaches are and then address those issues and determine a course of action to prevent further headaches.
Both work together! We recommend patients get massages because it helps loosen up the muscles that are being worked on. If your muscles are more relaxed it makes the adjustment easier.
Acupuncture is excellent for helping address tension and migraine headaches which are the two most common types of headaches.
Services & Techniques
Our Other Services
At Holistic Health & Chiropractic of Frankfort, we take great pride in providing the finest chiropractic wellness care to our patients. Here is a sampling of the different chiropractic services we offer in our FRANKFORT office.
Holistic Health & Chiropractic of Frankfort
| Monday | 9:00 - 1:00 | 3:00 - 6:00 |
| Tuesday | Closed | 3:00 - 6:00 |
| Wednesday | 9:00 - 1:00 | 3:00 - 6:00 |
| Thursday | 9:00 - 1:00 | 3:00 - 6:00 |
| Friday | Closed | Closed |
| Saturday | 9:00 - 1:00 | Closed |
| Sunday | Closed | Closed |