How Dr. Carpino makes headaches turn off

We’ve all had headaches before, and we can all agree that they are just awful.

You may know that there are different kinds of headaches that are mostly treated in different ways, but what can we do to make YOUR headache go away? Let’s talk about it! 💁‍♂️

First, it’s best if you speak with a health care professional to get a specific diagnosis for your type of headache. Once you know what kind of headache you have, you can know what to do about it yourself and how your healthcare team can help when needed.

For example:

-For some headaches, all you need to do is remove the trigger for the headache (easier said then done, I know!). Many headaches are caused from not getting enough sleep, not drinking enough water during the day, or having too much life stress. These kinds of headaches tend to go away when we adjust our daily lives accordingly.

-The most common kinds of headaches are caused by tight muscles and joints in the neck and too much soft tissue tension around the nerves that course from our neck up to our head. You might agree that once these headaches come on, they like to last for hours. Does this sound like your kind of headache? You are not alone! These kinds of headaches tend to go away when you relax the tight tissues either by stretching or having some manual therapy done on the neck and head.

The good news is that for many kinds of headaches seeing a Chiropractor can help. (Also note that if a Chiropractor can’t help you, they will refer you to a specialist who can.)

I use a few different strategies for treating headaches which can help you. Standard Chiropractic techniques such as neck and upper back spine adjustments can help loosen up those tight muscles and joints which may be related to your headache. By doing so, we can help the affected muscles not have to work as hard when moving the neck around, giving them a chance to relax. All Chiropractors will also help you with focused stretches for those tight neck muscles which like to radiate pain up into the head when they are too tight.

In addition to these usual Chiropractic techniques, I like to use a few more strategies which I’ve found effective for my patients who need an extra step to resolve their headaches. Often, I’ll use acupressure techniques on the areas where the nerves of the head exit the skull and on associated traditional acupuncture points to calm the nerves which are sending the headache signal. Sometimes I use acupuncture needling techniques to the affected nerve and muscle routes around the head and neck too.

A unique method that I use for headaches is called the dermal traction method. This technique uses specific movements and tissue tensioning to floss the nerves on top of the head back and forth. By doing so, any pressure or swelling that’s along the course of the nerve (causing it to be irritated and send the headache signal) can be relaxed or pumped away. This method is a great way to treat the nerve sending the headache signal effectively turning it from “on” to the “off”.

Most people with the common kinds of headaches feel much better after a single headache treatment. Since my treatment methods calm the nervous system in addition to treating tight muscles and joints, people will often book an appointment with me if they feel a headache coming on and want to prevent it, or if they already have a headache and want it to be “turned off”.

Many of my patients who have had reoccurring headaches have found that if they get occasional treatment, they can prevent the headaches from returning in the first place. The medical research literature supports this approach too, particularly for tension headaches and migraine headaches.

There are lots of different treatments for headaches out there- ranging from BOTOX injections to specialized medications to manual therapies. If you’d like to speak with a medical professional about which treatment may be best for your headache, don’t hesitate to give me a shout at one of my clinic locations to schedule a consultation with myself.

If you’d like to try a headache treatment with me, I’d be glad to make your headache turn off!