Does this sound like you?
Common signs
- Head pain that begins at the base of the skull and wraps forward towards the temple or eye
- Headache consistently on the same side, alongside neck stiffness or a restricted turn
- Head pain that is provoked by sustained desk work, driving, or a particular neck position
- Throbbing or pulsing pain with nausea, or sensitivity to light and sound
- Visual disturbance, tingling or speech changes in the half hour before the pain arrives
- Headaches that arrive with no neck involvement at all and follow their own pattern
This list describes the condition in general. It is not a diagnosis. Only an in-person assessment can tell you what is causing your symptoms.
What contributes to it
Why it happens
- Neurological migraine
- True migraine involves changes in the brain and its nerves rather than in the neck. Triggers, patterns and management sit with a doctor or neurologist, and medication is often part of that. We include it here because people commonly arrive assuming their headaches are muscular when the pattern suggests otherwise.
- Cervicogenic headache
- Head pain that originates in the joints, discs or muscles of the upper neck and is felt in the head. It usually stays on one side, tends to be provoked by neck position or movement, and often comes with reduced neck range. This is the presentation chiropractic assessment is relevant to.
- Sustained forward head posture
- Hours with the head held forward of the shoulders asks the muscles at the base of the skull to work continuously. That tissue can refer pain into the head, and it is a frequent background finding in desk workers who describe daily late-afternoon headaches.
- Sleep, stress and jaw clenching
- An unsupportive pillow, poor sleep and low-grade clenching keep the muscles around the skull and jaw loaded overnight. These rarely explain a headache on their own, but they often sit alongside whatever else is going on and make it harder to settle.
How we help
Our approach
Working out what kind of headache this is
Your first visit is largely history taking. Where the pain starts, what brings it on, what it comes with, how long it lasts, and what you have already tried. That is followed by the rest of the Gonstead six-step assessment: visualisation, nervoscope instrumentation, palpation with a full-motion assessment of the neck and upper back, and X-ray analysis where indicated. We are establishing whether there is a cervical contribution at all. Arriving at a headache diagnosis is a job for your doctor.
Where the neck is involved
If the assessment points to restricted segments in the upper neck, the adjustment is specific to those segments and delivered by hand, and your chiropractor will explain what they found before anything happens. Where the surrounding muscle is a factor, our physiotherapy side may add manual therapy and a programme for the deep neck and upper back. We are aiming at better neck movement and less load on that tissue. Any effect on the headaches themselves follows from that, and it varies from person to person.
Where it is migraine, we work alongside your doctor
If your pattern looks neurological rather than mechanical, the appropriate step is medical management, and we will say so plainly rather than book you a course of care. Chiropractic is not the treatment for migraine and we would rather not imply otherwise. Plenty of people have both, though: a genuine migraine disorder and a neck adding to the overall headache burden. In that case working alongside your doctor is reasonable, and a consultation is a sensible way to find out whether it applies to you.
What you track between visits
You will usually be asked to keep a simple record: when the headaches happen, how long they last, what preceded them, and what you were doing. Headache patterns are difficult to judge from memory, and this is often the single most useful thing a patient brings to a second appointment.
When to seek urgent care
See a doctor first if you have any of these
These need a medical assessment before you begin chiropractic care. If any apply to you, contact a doctor or go to the nearest emergency department.
- A sudden, severe headache that reaches full intensity within seconds or minutes (a thunderclap headache)
- The worst headache of your life, or a headache clearly unlike any you have had before
- Headache with fever, neck stiffness, or a rash
- Headache with weakness, numbness, confusion, difficulty speaking, or loss of vision
- Any headache following a blow to the head, a fall, or a road accident
- A new headache beginning after the age of 50, or one that is steadily worsening over days and weeks
- Headache that is worse on lying down, coughing or straining, or that wakes you from sleep
- Headache alongside a history of cancer, a compromised immune system, or unexplained weight loss
Frequently asked questions
What patients ask us
Can a chiropractor treat my migraine?
Not directly. Migraine is a neurological condition and its management belongs with a doctor or neurologist, so it is not what chiropractic sets out to treat. A consultation is still worth having, because it can work out whether part of your head pain is coming from the joints and muscles of the upper neck, which is a different problem that happens to feel similar. If the assessment says your headaches are migrainous, we will tell you and help you get to the right person.
How do I know if my headache is coming from my neck?
Some features point that way: pain that starts at the base of the skull, stays on one side, is provoked by neck position or sustained desk work, and comes with reduced neck movement. None of those is conclusive on its own, and there is real overlap with migraine. So the sorting happens at the assessment. We would not tell you the source without examining you first.
Will neck adjustments stop my headaches?
We cannot tell you that, and you should be cautious of anyone who does. Where a restricted neck segment is contributing, restoring movement to it often changes how much head pain people get. It depends on the presentation though, and some people notice little difference. Your chiropractor will tell you honestly what they expect and what they do not.
Is it safe to have my neck adjusted if I get headaches?
It depends on the presentation, so the assessment comes first. Certain symptoms need medical review before any hands-on care: sudden severe headache, dizziness, visual or speech changes, or any recent head or neck trauma. Tell us about those when you book so we can screen for them properly.
Should I stop my migraine medication?
That is not our decision to make, and nothing we do should be taken as a reason to change it. Medication decisions sit with the doctor who prescribed it. Bring a list of what you are taking to your first visit so we have the full picture.
