Chiropractic for headaches Headache relief through chiropractic According to the American Chiropractic Association 14% of the public who see chiropractors presently go for headaches.  For these patients the good news has gotten even better.  Researchers at Northwestern College of Chiropractic in Minnesota, compared chiropractic care to certain drug therapies used for tension and migraine headaches.   The study, published in the Journal of Manipulative and Physiological Therapeutics, followed 218 headache sufferers who were given either chiropractic care or drug therapy or both.  Pain was reduced 40 – 50% in all groups initially.  However, four weeks after all care was stopped, only the chiropractic group still retained the benefits, while those who received the drug therapy lost about half of their improvement. Headaches helped by chiropractic says research In the September 2001 issue of the Journal of Manipulative and Physiological Therapeutics was a report on the effectiveness of chiropractic care, specifically labeled "SMT" in the study, for patients with chronic headaches.  The data for this report was gathered from nine trials involving 683 patients with chronic headache. In this study chiropractic adjustments (termed SMT in the study) were compared to massage and medications for short term relief of up to six weeks after a month of care.  The question of long term health benefits was not addressed.  Results showed that the chiropractic group did better than the massage group.  The group that received medication also showed relief however, the rate of  side effects for the medication group was considerably higher than the chiropractic group.  This difference gave a decidedly large advantage to chiropractic over the medication.   According to the report, the financial cost of headaches is great, with billions of dollars spent annually for lost productivity and treatment.  The study also noted that people affected with headaches have commonly been treated by medical practitioners. Recently however, they are increasingly turning to non-medical or alternative therapies for relief.  A recent study from Harvard University  by Dr. Eisenberg reported that one of the most common alternative practitioners sought out for the treatment of headaches was the chiropractor.  This study confirms what most chiropractors and their patients have already known, that chiropractic is one of the most effective avenues of health for headache sufferers.  Chronic migraines helped by chiropractic, study shows A study published in the February 2000 issue of the Journal of Manipulative and Physiological Therapeutics, (JMPT), showed that people suffering with migraine headaches were helped with chiropractic care. The study was conducted in Australia at the Chiropractic Research Center of Macquarie University. In this research 177 volunteers were studied who had migraine headaches for over 18 years on average. Many of the participants also suffered from neck pain. The average response of the group that received chiropractic care showed a statistically significant improvement in migraine frequency, duration, and disability. The study also showed that those who received chiropractic care were able to reduce their medication use, with a significant number reducing their medication usage to zero! Additionally, 59% had no neck pain after a period of two months, and another 35% had a decrease in neck pain. The researchers concluded this study, built on previous studies that had similar results. "There have now been several studies demonstrating significant improvement in headaches or migraines after chiropractic.” The Migraine Foundation of Australia estimates that some 12% of Australians ages 15 and over, experience migraines. Headaches: study shows chiropractic effective Evidence reports recently released by the Foundation for Chiropractic Education and Research (FCER) show the effectiveness of chiropractic care for sufferers of tension headaches.  The story released February of 2001, was the continuation of a release of a study done at Duke University several years earlier.  In the study many different types of physical and  behavioral treatments were used for patients with headaches.  Chiropractic care was specifically compared to amitriptyline, a common medication used for headaches.  In this study the staff at the Duke Center screened articles from the literature, created evidence tables, and analyzed the quality and magnitude of results from these studies. They then drafted an evidence report with peer review from a panel of 25 reviewers, including researchers and clinicians in chiropractic. The results showed that chiropractic was highly effective for patients with tension headaches. When compared with the drug amitriptyline, chiropractic and the drug had similar short term effectsduring the episode.  However, the drug carried with it an adverse reaction rate in 82% of the patients.   The most profound effects were seen after the care was discontinued in the study.  In these instances the patients who were on drug therapy essentially returned to the same state as before.  However, the patients who were under chiropractic care continued to show sustained reduction in headache frequency and severity even after the chiropractic care was discontinued.  The implications are that chiropractic is not actually a therapy or treatment, but rather gets to the cause allowing the body to effect a correction that lasts beyond actual care. Top / Back
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