Headache Treatment Brisbane

Migraines typically will occur on one side of the head, starting as a dull ache before becoming a throbbing pain. They often last up to 3 days and can be preceded by an aura. Symptoms often include sensitivity to light and noise, nausea, dizziness, fatigue, and lack of appetite. These types of headaches can be very intense due to the length of time and related symptoms.

Sometimes this pain can move from one side of the head to the other. If this happens then it is then likely that the neck is the issue. This is good because then treatment and manual therapy to the neck can help to reduce the symptoms. If your headache is only ever on one side then there may be just the one joint on that side that is the problem. 

There can also be some instability in the top of the neck when there has been damage to the ligaments in the top part of the neck sometimes from a whiplash-type of injury.

We find that in our clinic a lot of BPPV symptoms have gone away after only two treatments. In the few days following a treatment it’s important that the patient takes good care of themselves to ensure the little ear rocks do not go back into the canal where they were stuck.

Temporo Mandibular Dysfunction is often called TMJ, but this is actually the term used for the temporomandibular joint which is the jaw joint. Issues with this joint can result in aching facial pain or pain in and around the ear, which can mimic the feeling of a headache.

Sometimes this dysfunction on the jaw can also have an upper neck component to it. Therefore, it’s important to see a professional and for your therapist to be able to assess the jaw, the neck and the upper back.

A vestibular headache, or migrainous vertigo, often involves dizziness and vertigo-like symptoms, and can even be a symptom of vertigo itself. These can be caused by a difference between the tightness in the neck muscles on either side of the spine. The brain then thinks that something is wrong, so the vestibular system says that you are off balance and therefore you feel dizzy. 

Working on the neck or cervical spine joints and muscles to work on the symmetry and balance can help to reduce these symptoms. Talk to one of our experienced physiotherapists today.

Occipital Neuralgia is the term for when there is shooting pain up into the back of the head. It’s  caused when the nerves that run from the top of the spine to the scalp are inflamed. These are often confused with migraines, as the symptoms can be similar.

The pain is like electric shocks or jabbing in the neck and head. Other symptoms can include pain behind the eye, sensitivity to light, or pain in the neck.

Trigeminal Neuralgia affects the trigeminal nerve and is a chronic condition. It’s a sensitivity condition where stimulating the nerve can cause pain. It’s characterised by electric shock type pain up the side and across the face. 

This pain can be triggered by a variety of everyday actions such as chewing, shaving, brushing your teeth or even talking. Some people who have this condition may even go for extended periods of time with no pain at all.

Abdominal Migraines are seen most often in children, commonly between the ages of 5-9 years old. The most common symptom is a dull ache in the stomach, behind the belly button area. It can also be accompanied by nausea, vomiting and loss of appetite. 

These pains can be linked to adults in the family who also experience head migraines, and often as children with abdominal migraines get older these symptoms will disappear and develop into migraine headaches.

Cyclic vomiting occurs with gastro type symptoms, such as vomiting and diarrhoea. The stress on your body of vomiting often and repeatedly can then cause headaches and neck pain.

Both cyclic vomiting and abdominal migraines can have connections to the neck and if migraine treatment medicine prescribed by your doctor helps the symptoms in these cases, then manual physiotherapy to the neck may also help.

Hemiplegic Migraines are a variant of migraine that can appear like a stroke, so it is very important to have stroke ruled out by your doctor before beginning migraine treatment. As part of this migraine, you can experience a temporary weakness or paralysis on one side of our body. 

Treating the symptoms would only be able to occur if all of the scans were clear. Then, some manual physiotherapy treating the neck and spine area may make a difference to the symptoms.