A 32 year old female presented to our clinic with a complaint of headaches and migraines for about three years. Her massage therapist had recommended seeing a chiropractor as she felt the cause was ‘more than just muscular’. The woman explained that the migraines at times were so severe that she would have to take time off work to go home and rest in a dark room.
The headaches she described as tightness from the neck extending to the back of her skull and around her eyes. “It’s like my eyes get really tired and I find it hard to concentrate” she said “and it gets worse when I am stressed”. She had tried various painkillers, but found that they didn’t help. The woman was very upset with her situation as she felt she was always ‘grumpy and tired’ and unable to fully enjoy life or perform well in her career. During the consultation the woman said she felt it all started after she fell backwards while learning to snowboard. She remembered that her neck felt quite sore and stiff for a few days after. During the chiropractic examination her posture was imbalanced with her head tilting to the right and her neck sitting forward on her shoulders. She found it difficult to turn her head fully to the left – “I notice it when reversing my car” she said. When bending her neck forward, she felt tightness and pain between the shoulder blades and pulling along her neck to the base of the skull. X-rays of her neck confirmed the misalignment of vertebrae in her neck and mid back and furthermore showed an old (non-life-threatening) fracture. The chiropractor designed a care plan consisting of chiropractic spinal adjustments to restore proper function of her joints, homestretches to do on a daily basis.
At her progress evaluation a few months later the woman’s response was: “It has been a long road, but finally I am starting to feel normal again. My mood is more stable, my energy levels are up and I feel like the old ME again. I LOVE my massage therapist for suggesting seeing a chiropractor and I love my regular chiropractic adjustments – I never, NEVER miss an appointment”.