Williamson Migraine Sufferers May Find Exercise and Chiropractic Help
Migraine is a debilitating condition for its sufferers. It is costly in terms of pain, money, and pharmacological use need. Drugs remain the “gold standard” of care. Patients often ask their migraine healthcare providers for non-drug options. Williamson migraine sufferers want choices! Apple Country Chiropractic suggests that exercise may be one such useful alternative.
EXERCISE FOR CHRONIC PAIN
Migraine is, for most Williamson migraine sufferers, a chronic pain condition. It is not usually a one time condition. Chronic pain disrupts the nervous system as well as the specific pain-generator. Researchers described evidence that exercise helps a variety of chronic pain conditions including migraine directly and indirectly with an aim to change the cycle of pain, sedentariness, and worsening disability. These changes do not come overnight. They come with long-term, regular, individualized exercise giving rise to improvement in pain and function. (1) Apple Country Chiropractic tells our Williamson chiropractic patients with all types of conditions that it is slow and steady commitment that gets the result.
EXERCISE FOR MIGRAINE BEING STUDIED
Researchers and migraine sufferers alike hold out hope for an easy, low-cost approach to migraine care. For example, a recent comparison study of neck-specific exercise set against sham ultrasound to reduce the frequency and intensity of migraine attacks. (2) A recent meta-analysis in Headache explained that aerobic exercise for migraine patients decreased the number of migraine days. (3) These are valuable outcomes for Williamson migraine treatment.
EXERCISE BENEFITS: Overall and Migraine Specific
Williamson chiropractic patients are often urged to exercise. Exercise seems like a endorsed panacea for everything from back pain to migraine to depression to neck pain and so much more. Why? It works. Exercise suppresses inflammation via reduction of inflammatory modulators (many cytokines) and stress hormones (growth hormone and cortisol). Exercise constructively influences the microvascular system that possibly affects a certain type of cortical spreading depression. Migraine specifically, exercise benefited migraine self-efficacy by allowing the migraine sufferer to have a sense of control which lessened migraine burden. How much exercise produces this type of effect? “Sufficiently rigorous aerobic exercise” resulted in statistically significant drop in migraine frequency, intensity and duration. That is welcomed by Williamson migraine sufferers! Of course, higher intensity exercise appears to bring about more benefit. Pharmacological drugs like topiramate were reported to be superior to exercise, but adding exercise to its use was implied as being beneficial. Migraine sufferers who also have neck pain or tension headache are reported to benefit from exercise. Low impact is valuable if high impact exercise is not possible. (4) Apple Country Chiropractic concurs with the researchers’ outcome: exercise is a practical evidence-based recommendation for migraine prevention.
CONTACT Apple Country Chiropractic
Listen to this PODCAST with Dr. David Kulla on The Back Doctors Podcast with Dr. Michael Johnson as he presents how he followed The Cox® Technic System of Spinal Pain Management for his patient with migraine which incorporated Cox® Technic spinal manipulation as well as exercise for appreciated relief by his patient.
