Cause of Migraines

When it comes to headaches, most common ones are the tension headaches, with the ache being experienced in the entire head or in a specific spot, such as behind the eyes or at the bottom of the skull. There are several factors that contribute to tension headaches such as poor posture, depression, anxiety, not to mention stress and your pattern of sleep can also play a major role. Headaches should never be taken for granted, as they can often be signals of a severe medical condition. For example a weakened blood vessel or even a brain tumor.

Maintaining a headache diary will assist in differentiating this. It will also help you establish if it is certain foods or work stress giving you headaches, taking place 4 to 12 hours after you have consumed a triggering food. Furthermore, you want to give your headache a rating based on severity like 1 to 5 points, one referring to slight tension and discomfort and five being a debilitating migraine. Only you can determine for yourself the severity of the pain you’re in. There are various tension headache solutions such as acupuncture, chiropractic and other alternative remedies which are popular amongst people who experience tension headaches. The Journal “Headache” published a survey of about 110 people who were sufferers of constant tension headaches. Only 41% believed alternative remedies and therapies had any advantage.

The Harvard teaching hospital, named Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, have of late conducted placebo-controlled studies of chiropractic impacts, and acupuncture on tension headache. One study concluding that out of the 29 persons suffering from a variety of tension headaches, just one session of acupuncture lessen the total number of days, when they were suffering from headaches as against the placebo studies in which false acupuncture was conducted. Nevertheless, on a separate study of tension headaches, 39 of them had no convincing proof that acupuncture had helped them. Whereas studies conducted on over 150 students at the Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, showed that chiropractic spinal manipulation for a period of six-weeks showed an equal amount of improvements. Even four weeks after the treatment was conducted people who had undergone the treatment showed a significant reduction in the headache frequency and intensity.

BIDMC also deciphered that some natural tension headache remedies were equally effective, like Tiger balm, which is also used to help in relieving muscle pain. It includes camphor, cajaput, and menthol making up a form of aromatherapy. Studies carried out on 57 people compared Tiger balm, used by applying it on the fore head, against a placebo ointment that had a mint essence smell. Tiger balm was more useful in over 60% of the case studies as against acetaminophen, alias Tylenol.

In the pursuit of remedies for tension headaches, there is also a short list of supplements and herbs you should avoid. Kava, which is prescribed as a muscle relaxant and will help ease stress has not been proven to diminish tension headaches or increase muscle relaxation. Its use has also been linked with severe liver failure. As always, use caution and consult a doctor before using any natural herbal remedy.

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