How Chiropractic Care Can Help Relieve Migraines and Headaches

Disclaimer: The following story is fictional and meant for information purposes.

Mr. Smith and His Battle with Migraines

Mr. Smith had always been a hardworking man. A devoted father, an avid reader, and a lover of his quiet garden, he cherished his simple life. But lurking in the shadows of his otherwise peaceful days was a relentless foe: migraines.

For years, they had plagued him without warning, leaving him debilitated and drained. The pain often started as a dull throb behind his right eye, spreading like wildfire until his head felt as if it might split in two. “It is just a headache,” people would say, but Mr. Smith knew better. Migraines were not just headaches—they felt like a full-body assault.

Even when the worst of the pain faded, the aftermath lingered. Fatigue, nausea, and a strange sense of being detached from the world would hang over him like a fog for days. He felt trapped, unable to fully enjoy his life, and the medication his doctor prescribed only seemed to make things worse.

Discovering the Mystery

One dreary afternoon, after yet another missed family outing due to his migraines, Mr. Smith sat in his dimly lit living room, poring over research. He discovered that migraines were not a one-size-fits-all affliction. In fact, they came in various forms, each with its own quirks and challenges.

For instance, his migraines fit the profile of migraine without aura, the most common type. The throbbing pain, sensitivity to light and sound, and the way any movement seemed to worsen the attack—it was all too familiar. But then, he read about migraine with aura, where visual disturbances often acted as a prelude to the headache.

It amazed him that some people even experienced migraines without headaches, suffering from symptoms like zig-zagging lights, nausea, and dizziness without the signature pounding pain. There were even rare types like hemiplegic migraine, which caused temporary paralysis, and retinal migraine, marked by vision loss in one eye.

The more he read, the more he realised how little he truly knew about his condition—and how many others struggled just like him.

A New Approach

Desperate for relief, Mr. Smith stumbled upon something unexpected: chiropractic care. Could adjusting his spine really help with migraines? It sounded far-fetched at first, but the testimonials were compelling. Some studies even suggested that chiropractic treatment could reduce migraine attacks by up to 90%.

His curiosity piqued, Mr. Smith booked an appointment with a local chiropractor. “Let us see if we can get to the root of this,” the chiropractor said warmly during their first meeting.

Understanding the Connection

During their sessions, the chiropractor explained how migraines often stem from issues in the nervous system. The nerve sending sensory signals from the face and head (trigeminal nerve), was particularly sensitive. When tension builds up in the upper neck and shoulders, it could overstimulate this nerve, essentially overloading the brain and triggering a migraine.

“It is like a system running on too much electricity,” the chiropractor said. “Our goal is to turn the dial down and restore balance.”

Over the next several weeks, Dr. Williams used precise adjustments to relieve tension in Mr. Smith’s neck and spine. The treatments were gentle but effective, and Mr. Smith began to notice subtle changes. His migraines were not vanishing overnight, but they were becoming less frequent and less intense.

Finding Relief

One day, after a particularly gruelling workweek, Mr. Smith braced himself for the migraine he knew was coming. But it did not. Instead, he felt a slight pressure on the side of his head (temples) that faded after an hour—no throbbing pain, no nausea, no day lost in a darkened room.

Encouraged, he continued his chiropractic care. Over time, he noticed that he needed less medication, and the days between migraines stretched further and further apart. He felt lighter, freer, as if he was given his life back.

Sharing His Story

Mr. Smith could not stop talking about the changes. “You know,” he told his neighbour one evening, “I have been dealing with migraines for years, but I think I have finally found something that works.” He explained how chiropractic care had helped relieve the stress on his nervous system, making his brain less likely to get those hypersensitive pain signals.

Of course, he admitted that the science behind migraines was still evolving. “But what I do know,” he said, “is that I feel better now than I have in years. And that is enough for me.”

A New Chapter

With his migraines more under control, Mr. Smith began reclaiming the parts of his life he had lost to the pain. He started gardening again, spending hours among his roses without worrying about triggering an attack. He attended his daughter’s school play without the dread of sitting in a noisy, crowded auditorium.

For Mr. Smith, chiropractic care was not only about treating migraines—it was about hope, about finding a way forward when all else seemed to fail. And as he walked through his garden one sunny afternoon, breathing in the scent of freshly bloomed flowers, he could not help but smile. Life was finally his to enjoy once more.

Migraines: What They Are and How Chiropractic Can Help

Migraines can be hard to live with. Those who have experienced them know they are not just headaches. Migraines affect the entire body, leaving you drained and disoriented long after the pain fades away. But what are migraines exactly? And could chiropractic care be the key to relief? The Bournemouth chiropractors at Charminster Chiropractic Clinic explore.

The Mystifying World of Migraines

Migraines are not all the same. They can show up in lots of different ways, which makes them tough to figure out and treat. And it is not just the headache part that is a problem. Even after the pain is gone, you can still feel very tired, sick to your stomach, or just “off”—like you’re stuck in a fog—for hours or even days.

To treat migraines the right way, it is very important to know what type you have. A lot of people—about 60% of women and 70% of men—do not get the right diagnosis. That means they might take the wrong medicine, which can sometimes make things worse. According to experts, there are seven types of migraines, and they are sorted by how doctors figure them out and treat them—not just by how they feel (7).

Two Major Types of Migraines

Migraine Without Aura

This is the most common type of migraine, and it comes out of nowhere. Here is what it feels like:

A strong, pulsing pain, usually on one side of your head.
You might feel sick, have blurry vision, mood swings, and feel very tired. Bright lights, loud sounds, or certain smells can make it worse.
These migraines can last from 4 hours to 3 days, and moving around usually makes the pain even stronger.

The tricky part? Taking too much medication for these migraines can actually cause you to have them more often and make them harder to deal with.

Migraine With Aura

These are sometimes called “classic migraines” and start with strange neurological symptoms, like:

Flashes of light, zig-zag patterns, or even temporary blindness.
Numbness, tingling, weakness in your muscles, or difficulty speaking.
You might feel sick and extra sensitive to light or sound before the headache starts.

The aura usually lasts less than an hour and does not always lead to a headache, which can make it hard to know you are having a migraine (3, 4, 5, 6).

Beyond the Common Types

Not all migraines come with a headache. Some cause weird vision problems, dizziness, fever, or even stomach pain instead. In rare cases, migraines can cause temporary paralysis on one side of the body (called hemiplegic migraines) or make you lose vision in one eye (called retinal migraines).

There is also something called chronic migraines, which means having headaches 15 or more days a month for over three months. These can be a serious burden in your life, so finding ways to prevent them is very important (7).

Can Chiropractic Care Help?

Chiropractic care might actually help with migraines, both as a way to prevent them and to make them less intense. Research is still ongoing, but here is what some studies have found:

In a study (systematic review and meta-analysis) of 22 studies with over 2,600 people, chiropractic adjustments helped many reduce how often they got migraines and how bad they felt (1).
- 22% of people had their migraine attacks drop by 90%!
- 49% said their migraines hurt way less.

Another study in Australia looked at people who had been dealing with migraines for 18 years on average (2). After trying chiropractic care, they said:

Their symptoms were cut by 60% during treatment.
They had fewer attacks and did not need as much medicine.

Even for people who have been suffering for years, chiropractic care could bring real relief.

How Chiropractic Care Works

Migraines are all about the nervous system, and that is where chiropractic care can help. Scientists used to think migraines happened because of blood vessels in your head, but now they believe it is more about how the brain and nerves work.

One nerve in particular, the trigeminal nerve, is very important. It sends signals from your head and face to your brain. If the muscles in your neck and shoulders are really tight or stressed, they can make this nerve more irritated, overloading your brain and causing a migraine.

Chiropractic care works by:

Loosening up tight muscles.
Fixing any problems in your neck or spine.
Helping your brain relax and respond better to stress.

By tackling these issues, chiropractic adjustments might stop migraines from happening as often or make them less painful (1).

Real-World Results

Some other studies show that fixing issues in the upper neck can help with migraines, but it turns out that adjusting other parts of your back—like the middle part—can also make a big difference (3, 4, 5, 6).

It is kind of like exercise: even if you do not focus on one specific area, working out helps your whole body. Chiropractic adjustments seem to work the same way. They reduce the stress on the brain’s pain systems, no matter which part of your spine gets treated.

A Path Forward

Scientists are still figuring out all the details about migraines, but here is what we know: chiropractic care seems to be a solid, drug-free way to help people with migraines. Regular adjustments might even stop migraines from happening as often, giving you a long-term way to feel better (3, 4, 5).

If you have tried everything else and nothing has worked, why not book an appointment with one of the Bournemouth chiropractors at Charminster Chiropractic Clinic for an assessment and treatment?

References

Headaches

How Chiropractic Care Can Help Relieve Migraines and Headaches

Mr. Smith and His Battle with Migraines

Discovering the Mystery