Headaches: Could It Be a Nerve?

The Four Headache Nerves

Some people do, but some would have no idea that we are very successful in fixing headaches. Headaches can have many causes and are often referred to as mixed tension migraines. The reality is that the cause usually has a soft tissue tension component, maybe a stress component, systemic inflammation, hormones, vision, and many other "mixed" causes.

Imagine that we all have a cup, which represents our capacity to tolerate problems. If you have enough problems then your "cup" spills over and that represents pain. Soft tissue tension is almost always involved in headaches (hence the name mixed tension migraines) and no clinic is better than Cumberland Chiropractic and Sports Medicine right here in Lebanon, TN at finding soft tissue tension and fixing it!

What do I mean by soft tissue tension? Posture, old injury, repetitive motions etc. leave behind their mark of a certain amount of scar tissue or what we call "velcro". Velcro likes to stick two things together. If a muscle and an adjacent nerve that lays over your face or skull are velcroed together, then moving pulls it and not even moving, you still feel the pressure. This is what I mean by soft tissue tension.

There are four nerves that almost always play a role in headaches: Cranial Nerve V (the Trigeminal), Cranial Nerve VII (the Facial), Lesser Occipital and Greater Occipital. Just check out the picture at above! If you see a nerve that lays right where your symptoms usually live, come see us, we can help!

How do we help? Think of the scar tissue or velcro analogy. Let's say there were microscopic velcro between the Lesser Occipital Nerve and the back edge of the SCM muscle (just think nerve stuck to muscle). You cannot stretch apart, "Ibuprophen" apart, or pop apart velcro. You must get your finger in between the layers and peel it apart. That's what we do with Active Release Technique (Sometimes referred to as ART). With precise finger placement and precise patient placement, we peel apart velcro all day long. When the velcro is apart the patient will feel pressure and pain relief immediately. The velcro likes to stick again, but if it is released three or four times, then the "hooks and eyes" that make up velcro get weak, your scar tissue tension is healed, and you are free from those headaches. Hoo-Ray!

If you are suffering with headaches, follow these steps: 1) Get sick of them and call us to schedule an appointment. 2) Study where exactly you feel your headaches and what you were doing before the headache came on (sleeping, driving home from work, sitting at your computer, washing windows, etc.). 3) Get your game face on. It is not that fun to have the scar tissue tension released, however it is very tolerable, will feel exciting because it exactly replicates your headaches, and will give you relief. Headache cases are one of our specialties and at Cumberland Chiropractic and Sports Medicine, we get you better, faster!