Headaches can be annoying, but they can also be quite debilitating. If you’re struggling to deal with frequent pain in your head, there may be a few things you can do, aside from taking painkillers.
If painkillers don’t completely eliminate the headache, you should try some of the following tips.
Rest in a Dark Space
Does light hurt your eyes or make your headache worse? If so, you should consider lying down in a quiet, dark space. Avoid going outdoors, as the sunlight is often triggering for migraines. If you can’t find a dark place to lie down, try draping a cool compress over your eyes to block out the light.
Use Heat or Cold
Interestingly, not all headaches respond to the same things. This means that for some people, heat will help the pain while for others, a headache means you need cold. Test which option works best for you. If you find that one works well, you can use a heat or ice pack for future problems.
Water may also help, so if you find heat to be helpful, stand under a hot shower and let the water pulse down on your head and neck. Likewise, you can use cool water for a similar effect if cold works best.
Massage Your Neck
Rubbing your neck may help relieve some of the muscular tension that can cause tension headaches. It’s important to loosen the muscles up for this, so use your fingers to gently rub on either side of the spine, right up to the base of the skull, where your spine enters the head.
This works best if someone else does it for you, since you’ll be tensing muscles if you do your own massage. You may want to ask a friend or partner to give you a quick massage to see if it loosens things up and helps with the pain.
Book a Chiropractic Treatment
Often, recurring headaches are caused by a simple misalignment in the spine. It may be minor enough that you don’t realise the pain comes from the spine. A treatment to realign things can often relieve the stress on the neck and reduce the frequency of headaches. If you think this could help, talk to your chiropractor to see if they feel this is a spinal issue.
You shouldn’t have to deal with constant headaches and if the pain is too much, talk to your doctor or see a chiropractor. Either one can let you know if you need to see the other.
Contact Hillsborough Chiropractic Clinic today to find out more about how we can help your pain.
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