Neck Pain and Headaches: Finding the Root Cause

Do you really know what’s causing your neck pain or headaches? There’s a common misconception that the pain is coming from sore muscles in your neck, but that isn’t the case. “When the neck muscles tighten up, it’s not the muscles that are causing the headache, it’s the underlying issue that’s causing it,” (Dr. Traci Gross).

Rather than covering up the symptoms of your pain with medications, or by getting a massage, our MaxLiving chiropractors believe in getting to the root cause of the problem. By doing so, we can dig deep and correct the cause naturally.

Dr. Nick mentions a term called “subluxation,” which is when individual bones shift out of their normal position, causing uneven wear and tear, as well as degeneration of the joint. This tiny bone shift isn’t only caused by severe trauma or car accidents. It can happen through sports injuries, falling, and even how you sit. Our bodies are being severely affected by this subluxation nowadays being that we spend hours on end hunched over, staring at our phones and computers. As a result of your head being tilted forward for so long, it causes those muscles to stretch, when they should be doing the opposite.

Dr. Traci explains that the bigger problem is that subluxation causes damage to the nerves. Since the nerves allow your body to function properly, it may cause issues if they are impaired. For example, if the nerves in your upper neck aren’t working properly, it could cause a variety of problems since the brain is housed there, and controls the majority of your body’s functions.

Instead of putting a bandaid on the situation, we need to focus on getting to the cause of the problem so we can improve our health for the long term. Dr. Nick talks about one of his patients who used to get botox to help with her headaches. After Dr. Nick took x-rays of her spine and neck, he found that she had a reversed cervical curve in her neck due to years of covering up her symptoms. If she had just found the root cause first, rather than covering up the headache symptoms, her subluxation may not have gotten this bad.

The big takeaway is that although masking symptoms may give you pain relief, it’s not a good long-term plan. You will end up paying the price later when your symptoms are so bad they can’t be covered up. We need to correct our problems firsthand! Even though getting to the cause of the problem might take time and effort in the beginning, in the end, your quality of life will be greatly improved for years to come.

It’s time to stop masking your symptoms and start getting to the root cause of the problem. Find a MaxLiving office near you so we can help you unlock your full potential: https://maxliving.com/locations/

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