When most people think of a head injury, they think of a professional football player taking a huge tackle and perhaps a loss of consciousness. The truth is that head injuries can be very mild and still result in many troubling symptoms. A traumatic head injury can be a result of a fender bender in the parking lot or from a child taking a fall on the playground. Headaches that follow a head injury usually subside within hours or a few days following the incident. However, some people who continue to deal with residual headaches after a head injury suffer from what are known as post-traumatic or post-concussion headaches.
Why Do Some People Suffer from Post-Concussion Headaches?
Sometimes, it might be difficult to explain why some people suffer from lingering symptoms for months or even years after a head injury while others seem to recover quickly. This is especially true when standard imaging tests, such as MRI or CT, come back as normal. Other studies that look at changes at microscopic levels have revealed that there can be disruptions in nerve fibers in the brain that resulted from the shearing or stretching force of the trauma, and this can be leading to post-traumatic headaches.
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How Can Upper Cervical Chiropractic Help Me?
Upper cervical chiropractic is a specialty within chiropractic that focuses on the vertebra at the junction between the neck and head. The C1, or atlas vertebra, has a shape that is different from all the rest of the vertebrae of the spine. Because of this special design, it is particularly vulnerable to misalignment, especially in cases where a person has suffered a traumatic injury to the head, even a mild one.
At Pancake Wellness Center, we focus on the upper cervical area because of its intimate connection with the central nervous system. Because post-traumatic headaches are linked to damage or stress on nerve fibers, our goal is to relieve this abnormal stress and allow the body time to heal from these injuries. We help our patients who experience headaches or migraines following an accident or injury identify the root cause of their condition. If there was a force great enough to cause a mild concussion, then there is a high likelihood that an atlas misalignment is also present. Having this problem corrected by a specific and gently applied upper cervical adjustment can be the start of finally recovering completely from your injury.
References:
http://www.brainline.org/content/2008/12/headaches-after-head-injuries-8212-post-traumatic-headaches.html
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If you are outside of the local area, you can find an Upper Cervical Doctor near you at www.uppercervicalawareness.com.