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Headache
Overview:
Headaches can affect most of us from time to time and they can range in their severity from mild to intense pain.
Signs and Symptoms:
There are many different types of headache - these are some of the symptoms associated with some common types:
* Tension headache - a dull, steady pain that feels like a band tightening around the back of the head and neck
* Migraine headache - severe throbbing pain usually located on one side of the head, nausea, vomiting, blurred vision, tingling and numbness of the limbs
* Sinus headache - steady pain accompanied by congestion in the area behind the face, worse for bending forward
Causes and Organs Affected:
Tension headaches are triggered by stress or physical irritants such as persistent noise, eyestrain, poor posture, too much caffeine, or the grinding or clenching of teeth.
Migraines involve excessive constriction and dilation of blood vessels in the brain. They can be triggered by any number of things including food allergy, stress, premenstrual syndrome, flashing lights or bright glare, too little or too much exercise or sleep, even changes in barometric pressure (humidity).
Risk Factor:
Risk factors for cluster headaches include: Being a Male, Dark-skinned, Being an adult, Smoking, Drinking alcohola and A family history
Treatment:
Wear good quality sunglasses to protect your eyes from glare, particularly when you are out in the snow or near water.
Schedule regular activities such as meditation and Tai chi to help reduce stress.
Your chiropractor or osteopath can help to relieve and prevent headaches caused by musculo-skeletal imbalance or misalignment of the spine or jaw.
Other Information:
Regular exercise releases natural pain killing agents called endorphins, and helps to relieve muscle tension.
Massage therapy can be a very effective and enjoyable treatment for many types of headache. Regularly treating yourself to a massage will help to avoid accumulated muscle tension.