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NJ Migraines and Headaches Info

Massage a Possible Solution for Migraines?

Massage for Migraines

There is a certain degree of mystery about what causes migraine headaches, with its pain levels ranging from “throbbing moderate” to severe— or from bad to worse. It could be caused by one, some or all of the following: genetic, a disorder of the central nervous system, chemical imbalances and even heart related. Many of the causes of primary headaches and tension headaches, including stress, also trigger migraines.

Therapeutic massage professionals are convinced that their efforts bring relief, as do many sufferers of migraine headaches who swear by it and regularly receive treatments.

Migraines may literally rob one’s ability to function normally, which is imperative for most who have jobs to do and responsibilities to family and community.

Evidence of the Healing Power of Massage

The American Massage Therapy Association (A.M.T.A.) reports that they are waiting for mainstream medicine and science to confirm massage’s healing powers over migraines beyond the testimonial evidence of those who have experienced its healing powers.

“Data on the efficacy of massage for migraine are somewhat limited. This does not mean that massage is not helpful for migraine, but rather that there have been few studies, and they have had smaller samples and less rigorous designs, so we do not have the scientific evidence necessary to make a conclusive statement about its efficacy,” reports Dr. Dawn Buse, Associate Professor of Neurology at Albert Einstein College of Medicine and the Director of Behavioral Medicine at the Montefiore Headache Center in New York.

One of the limitations has been the lack of funding available for the comprehensive studies needed to affirm the pain easing impact of massage on migraine headaches. Pharmacological treatments, according to Dr. Buse, seem to have the inside track when it comes to funding testing of a growing number of new medications and their usual retinue of side effects.

Yet it’s really about the patients and the many who attest to feeling immense relief from massage therapy — a relief that lasts for days, even weeks at a time through regularly scheduled treatments.

Avoid Migraine Symptoms

Buse recently reported to the A.M.T.A. that she would encourage a growing number of patients who “find massage therapy helpful” to continue with regular massage therapy treatment plans. She also urged these same patients to maintain healthy eating habits and avoid a sedentary lifestyle that may lead to any of the following symptoms of migraines:

  • throbbing kinds of headaches, both dull and sharp
  • pain that becomes more intense with increasing physical activity
  • nausea and vomiting
  • pain on both sides of the head or behind the eyes
  • blurred vision
  • hyper-sensitivity to light and sound

Relaxation to Reduce Tension

It makes sense that stress and tension are major factors in both tension headaches and migraines. Sometimes just the anticipation of one of these crushing headaches can bring one on, patients affirm. The one condition that most people report after undergoing a massage from a trained professional is relaxation. Relaxation in turn keeps tension and stress at bay.

Migraine headaches affect about 12 percent of the adult population in the United States, which is a pretty good argument for aggressively testing massage and scientifically pinpointing where this relief comes from and which kind of triggers and symptoms upon which it seems most effective.

We know of a study that, for instance, measured heart rates, anxiety levels and salivary cortisol — the essential hormone produced when under stress— before and after treatments. The results provided conclusive proof that all of these levels decreased after each session.

—Call us today at (201) 651-9100 at Oakland Spine & Physical Therapy to learn how massage might ease and eliminate pain from your life.

Making Debilitating Migraines Go Away

NJ Migraine & Headache Treatment - Bergen/Passaic County

Just about everyone has experienced a headache now and again, whether from stress, as a warning sign of impending illness or something as mundane as missing your morning cups of coffee. They come and they go and are as individualized as the person suffering from them. Headaches are nothing to scoff at, but a migraine is a whole different animal, unrelenting and always a threat to return at any time, literally derailing your life for hours, even days. A primary headache, the most common type among 95 percent of headache sufferers, might also trigger a more oppressive migraine as if warning you of worse things to come.

The treatments we offer at Oakland Spine & Physical Therapy may be as seemingly simple as a change in diet or learning how to relax, but getting to the source of migraines and what the symptoms reveal requires knowledge, expertise, and experience to resolve. We also employ a powerful weapon in our anti-migraine arsenal— a breakthrough non-surgical treatment using the LCT 1000 Deep Tissue (Class IV) Laser along with spinal decompression as part of our exclusive Butler Spine Program.

Commonly Experienced Symptoms

Migraines may not always share the same symptoms among those whom they assail, but the common denominator is they are too disruptive and painful to ignore. Among the symptoms most commonly experienced are an intense throbbing pain often on one side of the head, nausea, vomiting and a tremendous aversion to light, sound, and even certain smells. Migraine attacks typically last from four hours to as long as three days and nights (72 hours) of unrelenting suffering which, when over, may leave you exhausted, confused, and weakened for another 24 hours.

The symptoms can be so severe that they interfere with your daily life. It is often intensified by routine physical activity, which means there is little you can do that is productive, either at home or on the job. Just functioning socially can be an ordeal.

Without the promise of relief, the only solution for some is remaining as still as possible while seated or abed, suffering in a dark, quiet place until it goes away.

Once a migraine is diagnosed, the obvious objective is to provide relief, of course, but we also strive to determine the cause so we can more accurately employ the treatment program that works for each patient. Our experience with headache and migraine sufferers will be of tremendous benefit, whatever the origin of your debilitating migraine or its peculiar symptoms.

The Butler Spine Program has been amazingly effective in circumventing surgery or being forced to seek relief through prescription drugs that can hold you prisoner the rest of your life. This treatment targets neck pain, headaches and migraines and, most of all, brings hope of migraine relief and has the potential of diverting future attacks.

When chiropractic care is integrative it includes an array of lifestyle changes that can make a dramatic difference in susceptibility to migraines. These include diet, exercise, and modifying work environment and postures (ergonomics).

—Call us today at (201) 651-9100 for an appointment at Oakland Spine & Physical Therapy.

 

Treating Rare Cervicogenic Headaches

HeadacheMan

Life and its ongoing stresses can be a real headache at times, and most headaches are attacked medically through pharmaceuticals. Millions of Americans can say their lives are affected by headaches—more than half of the population is a typical estimate. Of that number, the least common type are those which may rival migraines in intensity and disruptiveness.

About 37 million Americans get migraines alone, and some are likely cervicogenic headaches in origin.

It is also the one type of headache where sufferers are turning to chiropractic care in greater numbers. The cervicogenic headache may not be as rare as the statistics indicate, because it is regarded as perhaps the most under-diagnosed or wrongly diagnosed type of headache.

Natural Chiropractic Solution

senior woman with headacheIt is described as a neck disorder which may result in “tensioning of the spinal cord,” but the key is apparently not a pill but finding the neck issue that could be something as simple as a lesion or nerve impairment. It may even be activated by an injury. With the neck and spine complicit, it doesn’t take a great leap in logic to surmise that relief could be in the hands of your chiropractor. Recent research confirms that chiropractic care brings “substantial benefit” to people plagued by chronic cervicogenic headaches.

Twenty-four people diagnosed with cervicogenic headaches were divided into three groups in one study separated by frequency of weekly chiropractic treatments, according to the Journal of Manipulative and Physiological Therapeutics. All reported some pain relief, but the two groups with the most visits — three and four visits a week over the span of three weeks—  not only received “substantial benefit in pain relief” but the benefits continued to last when they were examined three months after the end of the study.

This and other reports of promising results from patients finding long-sought relief are prompting even more research and studies, so stay tuned for even more promising news about the advantages of chiropractic care in treating this unconventional headache. Spinal manipulation has been used to ease the pain of this headache for some time. Now its effectiveness is no longer a secret to mainstream medicine.

The pain of a typical cervicogenic headache has been described as one-sided, moving from the back of the neck toward the front, with accompanying pain often reported to a shoulder, even an arm, on the affected side.

Cervicogenic Headache Treatment

Spinal manipulation, as noted previously, may be provided in a controlled force on the upper part of the spine or cervical/neck area by hands or a device.

Also deemed effective is the use of exercises triggering prolonged and repetitive contractions of muscles in the neck known as overseen by a professional physical therapist or chiropractor.

There are all kinds of headaches, including cluster, tension, cluster, sinus, rebound and, of course, the most debilitating of them all, migraines.

If you suspect a cervicogenic headache is the cause of your chronic pain, the key to successful treatment is, first of all, getting the right diagnosis. Although regarded as mysterious because its source can be elusive, it may also be discovered by something as simple as an x-ray. The next step is to move ahead with the treatment plan that works for you.

Diverse Techniques With Unique Results

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Diverse Techniques with Simple Priorities

One of the most common misconceptions about chiropractors is that we all do the same thing. Dr. Brad Butler, Chief of Staff at Oakland Spine & Physical Therapy in Oakland and Wayne, NJ, offers a two-word response to that:

“We don’t.”

“Much like the medical profession, there are many different styles of practice.,” explains Dr. Butler.

A traditional chiropractor typically uses just spinal manipulation or some basic modalities. Then there are chiropractors who follow more of a model of “spinal correction,” which is to use additional techniques to bring the patient’s spine back to a normal structural state.

Finally, there are chiropractic rehabilitation offices where multiple techniques, modalities, and even other disciplines such as physical therapy, massage therapy, acupuncture, and advanced technologies can be used.

“This is the model we utilize,” Dr. Butler adds, “because I feel we are giving the patient the overall best opportunity to heal and recover from more chronic and advanced spinal conditions.”

Women with Back PainModern medicine continues to improve and refine what it does best, and that is early detection and treatment. That’s where most of the research money and health insurance billing is going, with prevention continuing to get the short end of the proverbial stick. Chiropractors, as well as physical therapists to some extent, set the their priorities on prevention, utilizing the body to heal itself and immediate relief from an ongoing condition.

Robert Hayden, a spokesman for the American Chiropractic Association (ACA), has estimated there are as many as 150 techniques being practiced by chiropractors and promoted in chiropractic literature.

Looking at the 10 post-graduate programs being offered in the field for board diplomate clinical certification by the ACA, we can see where both manual (hands-on) and mechanical (instrument-applied) techniques would add up in those specialties alone:

—Chiropractic Pediatrics

—Chiropractic Physical and Therapeutic Rehabilitation

—Chiropractic Acupuncture

—Diagnosis and Internal Disorders

—Diagnostic Imaging

—Neurology

—Nutrition

—Occupational Health

—Sports Physician

—Orthopedics

There is so much diversity in chiropractic care, but the goals and priorities remain the same as exemplified in the following definition by the National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health (NCCIH):

Chiropractic is a health care profession that focuses on the relationship between the body’s structure—mainly the spine—and its functioning. Although practitioners may use a variety of treatment approaches, they primarily perform adjustments (manipulations) to the spine or other parts of the body with the goal of correcting alignment problems, alleviating pain, improving function, and supporting the body’s natural ability to heal itself.

—Call us today at (201) 651-9100 for an appointment at Oakland Spine & Physical Therapy.

 

 

 

Including PT in Integrated Care

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Counting Physical Therapy In

Like chiropractic care, a primary goal of physical therapy is to heal and treat without relying on drugs and therapy. One of the chief differences is that physical therapy is more closely associated with mainstream medicine and is even prescribed by medical practices before and after surgery.

PT (and chiropractic care, for that matter) goes back to ancient times when massage and the relief that comes from water that we now call hydrotherapy are believed to be used by Greek physician Hippocrates, known as the father of medicine. In a sense, you could say he is also the father of physical therapy. However, it took centuries before PT was regarded as accepted health care, although one element, fitness training, pre-dates it by centuries. PT went mainstream with the polio epidemic in the 1940’s and 1950’s when manual therapy techniques were used to help restore muscle function.

The modern physical therapist is also trained in massage, but specialties now include post-operative care, orthopedic, cardiovascular and neurologic and pulmonary rehabilitation. Those specialties are usually just that, and few physical therapy practices provide treatment in all of these areas.

TorticollisIntegrating Multiple Therapies

Physical therapists and chiropractors can work together under the same roof, so to speak, to provide integrated care.

Dr. Brad Butler, Chief of Staff at Oakland Spine & Physical Therapy believes that “physical therapy is probably the best thing out there for treating the muscular components of the spine.” It is also critical for functional improvements, postural improvements, flexibility and strength.

“However, the big difference between hospital-based physical therapy, a stand alone physical therapy center, and an integrated center like ours, is the applied philosophy of what works best,” Dr. Butler reports. “We believe that integrated physical therapy with other therapies lead to a faster and more comprehensive patient response.”

The American Physical Therapy Association (APTA) explains that PTs examine each care recipient (“patient” is generally not used because it applies to medical care) and “develop a plan using treatment techniques to promote the ability to move, reduce pain, restore function, and prevent disability.” In addition, PTs develop fitness programs for individuals as a means to maintain or improve mobility, as well as ensuring more active and healthier lifestyles with programs they can follow on their own. In post-operative therapy, for instance, care continues after leaving PT via programs the individual can use on his or her own.

There are obviously many similarities between PT and chiropractic care, and the integration of the two healing disciplines is a natural transition under the all-encompassing umbrella of health care.

 

Why Website Words Seem Familiar

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The Common Denominator of Chiropractic Searching

If you do much online research on chiropractic care, you are bound to see an amazing amount of repetition on practitioners’ websites. We’re talking word-for-word by the hundreds, and though this might be technically defined as plagiarism, nobody seems to complain too much.

That is because much of the purloined parlance is within the industry, so to speak. Quoting information that educates the public on the advantages of chiropractic care and mainstream studies that cite its many advantages, seems to be shared material for chiropractic practices all over the country. Plus it is proven and factual.

Aside from informational pages on these websites, you’ll also see this wholesale misappropriation of wordage in blogs on sites promoting everything from nutrition to acupuncture. Bloggers should know better, since they are usually professional writers and copywriters, but, then again, why not repeat someone else’s writing if you can’t state it any better?

Look at it this way. If it was your writing showing up on websites all over the country, you might actually feel complimented because so many people in the field preferred your words over their own.

WhiplashChiropractors are not alone. This seems to be particularly pervasive in the healing arts, including medical doctors, dentists and even healthcare financial advisors. Their websites are replete with hundreds of words lifted from elsewhere, and it is almost impossible to trace their origin.  

We’ve found numerous websites that are sharing writing without attribution, but we doubt anyone is going to mind all that much, because what’s good for one is apparently good for all— as long as the author doesn’t complain.

Take, for example, the following 65 words (part of several hundred but we don’t need to devote that many words to make the point):

In the United States, chiropractic is often considered a complementary health approach. According to the 2007 National Health Interview Survey (NHIS), which included a comprehensive survey of the use of complementary health approaches by Americans, about 8 percent of adults (more than 18 million) and nearly 3 percent of children (more than 2 million) had received chiropractic or osteopathic manipulation in the past 12 months…

Even though this survey is pretty much outdated more than a decade later, we found the above passage unchanged on 54 different sites all over the country and once in the UK. Most were chiropractic sites, but it was also on sites promoting pain therapy, yoga, cancer treatment, Chinese martial arts, holistic nursing, massage therapy, a suburban newspaper and even Wikipedia (the subject was therapeutic touch).

 

Diversity Among Chiropractors

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Not All Chiropractors Are the Same

There have been some simple stereotypes associated with chiropractors over a history of almost 125 years, but there are now as many as 150 techniques recognized by the American Chiropractic Association (ACA).

“Much like the medical profession, there are many different styles of practice,” says Dr. Brad Butler, Chief of Staff at the Oakland Spine & Rehabilitation Centers in Oakland and Wayne, NJ. “A traditional chiropractor typically uses just spinal manipulation or some basic modalities. Then there are chiropractors who follow more of a model of spinal ‘correction,’ which is to use additional techniques to bring the patient’s spine back to a normal structural state.”

Finally, there are chiropractic rehabilitation offices like Oakland Spine with multiple techniques and disciplines. These may include advanced technologies and modalities such as physical therapy, massage therapy and acupuncture.

“This is the model we utilize because I feel it’s giving the patient the overall best opportunity to heal and recover from more chronic and advanced spinal conditions,” Dr. Butler adds.

TorticollisWithin the realm of chiropractic medicine itself, there are five basic or common techniques. They might be generally defined thusly:

  1. The simplest hands-on technique is typically confined to adjusting the low back or pelvis. It is a fundamental phase of chiropractic education and students learn it early in schooling and training. Targeted are stiffness and pain, as well as increasing mobility.
  2. Another technique involves using a hand-held instrument that transmits a gentle impulse into sections of the spine. There is very little discomfort in this process, known as the activator technique, and it is used to alleviate lower back pain and even for headaches and migraines.
  3. Decompression manipulation is a technique commonly used in chiropractic clinics and preferred for treating herniated discs, sprains to the facet joints between discs, and scoliosis. The treatment is described as a gentle stretching motion on an adjustable table.
  4. Speaking of adjustable tables, the drop-table technique relies on a padded table with platforms that drop slightly in sequence with thrusts of the chiropractor making adjustments to both the spine and extremities.
  5. Finally there is the diversified technique that, like the drop-table technique, is used on both the spine and extremities. These are very precise manual applications,  that are effective at restoring normal alignment and movement of the spine.

There is great diversity in training and schooling. For example, there are 10 post-graduate programs or specialties endorsed by the ACA and offering diplomate certification for chiropractors:

  • Chiropractic Pediatrics
  • Chiropractic Physical and Therapeutic Rehabilitation
  • Chiropractic Acupuncture
  • Diagnostic Imaging
  • Diagnosis and Internal Disorders
  • Nutrition
  • Neurology
  • Orthopedics
  • Occupational Health
  • Sports Physician

 

Dr. Brad’s Weekly Health Update: Many People Choose Manual Therapies for Headaches

NJ Migraine & Headache Treatment - Bergen/Passaic County

Many People Choose Manual Therapies for Headaches

Utilizing data from 35 published studies, a new report finds that about a third (32.3%) of headache patients utilize manual therapies to help manage their condition. The report notes the most common reasons headache patients seek out manual therapies include pain relief, perceived safety, and dissatisfaction with drug-based treatment options. Chiropractors have long used manual therapies such as spinal manipulation to effectively treat headache sufferers. BMC Neurology, March 2017

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