Do you suffer from headaches?

Headaches in Australia are an extremely common condition, with statistics indicating that Australia has over 3 million migraine and 7 million tension-type headache sufferers.Tension headaches are the most common headache and is often associated with muscle tightness and misalignment in the head, neck, and jaw. This can often be associated with poor posture, leading to prolonged or repeated episodes.

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Other causes of headaches may include:

• Stress
• Medications
• Diet
• Jaw problems
• Illnesses of the eye, ear, nose, and throat

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If you find any of the following apply to you, please contact us or your GP:

• If you are over 50 years of age and never experienced your current symptoms before.
• Fever
• Nausea or vomiting
• Dizziness, vertigo, or loss of balance
• Numbness or tingling, particularly on the hands, arms or face

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What we may do

An osteopathic appointment at Muna will consist of:

1. History: Including questions on your past medical history, diet, hormonal changes, and stress that may be relevant.
2. Assessment and Examination: This will consist of orthopaedic testing and testing of cranial nerves, testing of range of motion and tissue quality, functional movement limitations, as well as any pain disability questionnaires that may be relevant.
3. Treatment: The extent and types of treatment that may occur during your consult will vary greatly depending on the cause of your headache. As such, the aim may be to:
4. Improve range of motion and mobility of joints within your neck, shoulders, ribs and spine.
5. Decrease compression or irritation of nerves.
6. Decrease muscular strain and tension.
7. Provide specific exercises or rehabilitation programs.
8. Provide advice for symptomatic relief, such as avoiding any bright light, increasing water consumption, cool packs on head or neck, avoiding specific foods or diets and methods on managing the irritants, aggravating factors or possible causes within your current environment.

If we feel your condition needs further attention, then we may refer you to your GP or specialist for added assistance.

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With constant or repeated headaches, often a headache diary can be of great benefit. This diary allows you to keep record of all the components that may be causing, aggravating, or irritating your current condition and allows us to provide faster and more sustaining relief. You can get your own headache diary by clicking here.

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References:

https://www.betterhealth.vic.gov.au/health/conditionsandtreatments/headache
http://headacheaustralia.org.au
http://www.headache.com.au/faqs-headache-migraines-bureau-of-statistics-data/

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