You’ve tried everything, from the painkillers sat in your desk drawer, to reducing your screen brightness and drinking more and more water. Yet that familiar throb behind the eyes keeps coming back. Perhaps the room spins when you turn your head too quickly or you feel an unsettling sensation that something isn’t quite right. At first glance, chiropractic care might not be the first thing that comes to mind for headaches or dizziness, but you might be surprised.
Can a chiropractor help with headaches and dizziness? Well, after years of treating patients in Knutsford, I’ve seen countless people whose headaches and dizziness improved dramatically with chiropractic care. Often, they’d never made the connection between their neck and their symptoms. But once we addressed the underlying issues in their cervical spine, the relief was remarkable. In this guide, I’ll explain how it works.
The Neck-Headache Connection Most People Miss
Here’s something many people don’t fully realise: the neck and headaches are often closely connected. When the muscles and tissues in your neck become tight, stiff, or misaligned, they can directly trigger headaches and dizziness. The cause is not always obvious because the pain shows up in your head, and not where the problem actually originates.
Think of it like a Venn diagram. You might have several ‘circles’ contributing to your headaches, including stress, posture, dehydration, and neck tension. As a chiropractor, my job is to identify which of these circles we can address. Often, by taking away just one element, such as the neck dysfunction, the whole picture improves dramatically.
Different Types of Headaches: Can a Chiropractor Help with Headaches and Dizziness?
Not all headaches are created equal, and understanding which type you have is crucial to getting the right treatment.
Chiropractors and Tension Headaches
Tension headaches are the most common type, and they often respond well to chiropractic care. These typically feel like a tight band around your head, often stemming from muscle tension in the neck and shoulders. Hours hunched over a computer, poor posture, or stress can all contribute to this type of discomfort.
Chiropractic care for tension headaches involves specific adjustments to restore proper movement to your neck joints, combined with soft tissue work to release those tight muscles. Relief can come quickly, with many patients noticing an improvement after just one session.
Chiropractors and Cervicogenic Headaches
Cervicogenic headaches literally mean “headaches originating from the neck.” These have very specific referral patterns. You might feel pain that starts at the base of your skull and travels over your head, often settling behind one eye. The pain is usually one-sided.
These headaches are particularly responsive to chiropractic treatment because we’re addressing the actual source: restricted movement and dysfunction in your cervical spine. By restoring proper joint function and releasing those tight muscles, we can often eliminate these headaches entirely.
Chiropractors and Migraine Headaches
Most people who ask, “Can a chiropractor help with headaches and dizziness?” don’t fully appreciate the connection between migraines and neck problems. While migraines are complex and can have multiple triggers, cervical spine dysfunction often plays a significant role.
Research shows that addressing neck stiffness and muscle tension can reduce both the frequency and intensity of migraines. A stiff neck alone justifies treatment, but when it’s contributing to debilitating migraines, addressing it quickly and properly becomes even more important.
Why Dizziness Happens (And How Your Neck Is Involved)
Dizziness can be even more mysterious to people than headaches. But here’s the really fascinating part: the small muscles at the base of your skull don’t just move your head; they also send crucial information to your balance centres.
When these muscles become tight or dysfunctional, they can send faulty signals to your brain about where your head is positioned in space. The result? Dizziness, unsteadiness, or that unpleasant swimming sensation when you move.
This is why asking, “Can a chiropractor help with headaches and dizziness?” is such an important question. These symptoms often share the same root cause, namely neck dysfunction.
The Importance of Proper Triage
It’s important to point out that not every headache or dizzy spell is neck-related, which is where a proper assessment becomes essential. During your first visit, I’ll conduct a thorough examination to determine what’s actually causing your symptoms.
Could it be dehydration, or vestibular issues like BPPV (Benign Paroxysmal Positional Vertigo)? Sometimes it’s actually inner ear problems. Each of these conditions presents in its own way and requires its own specific tests to help us identify the underlying source.
For example, BPPV responds to an approach called the Epley manoeuvre, which repositions the crystals in your inner ear. This isn’t a chiropractic adjustment per se; it’s a different technique entirely, but it’s something we can perform in the clinic if needed.
What Chiropractic Treatment Actually Involves
Many people imagine the dramatic neck “cracking,” but modern chiropractic care is far more sophisticated than that. Treatment typically includes:
- Specific Adjustments: Gentle, targeted movements to restore proper joint function in your neck. These improve mobility and reduce nerve irritation.
- Soft Tissue Work: Releasing tight muscles through massage, trigger point therapy, or myofascial release. Those muscles at the base of your skull often need special attention.
- Postural Advice: Identifying and correcting the habits that contributed to your problems in the first place.
- Exercise Prescription: Strengthening and stretching exercises to maintain improvements and prevent recurrence.
Real Results: What to Expect
In some cases, I’ve seen patients get immediate relief from their very first treatment. Others will notice a gradual improvement over several sessions. The key is that you should never decide to just “live with” chronic headaches or dizziness.
Far too many people accept these symptoms as their new normal, popping painkillers and hoping for the best. But medications only tend to mask the main problem, they don’t actually get to the bottom of why you’re getting headaches in the first place.
Some patients find their symptoms simply vanish after addressing their neck dysfunction. Others discover that, while the headaches don’t disappear entirely, they’re far less frequent and intense. And either outcome is usually a significant improvement in quality of life.
Taking Action: Your Next Steps
If you’ve been struggling with persistent headaches and/or dizziness and are now wondering whether chiropractic care might be the answer, here’s what I recommend:
- Keep a Symptom Diary: Note when headaches or dizziness occur, what you were doing, and where exactly you feel them. Patterns often emerge that can help with a diagnosis.
- Pay Attention to Your Neck: Do you notice stiffness, tension, or restricted movement? Does turning your head trigger symptoms? These clues are valuable indicators to chiropractors.
- Don’t Wait For it to Get Worse: Early intervention typically means faster results and less treatment time overall.
- Book an Assessment at Bespoke Chiropractic in Knutsford: A thorough examination can determine whether chiropractic care is right for your specific situation and create a personalised treatment plan to get you back on the road to recovery.
So, can a chiropractor help with headaches and dizziness? In many cases, absolutely, yes. The tissues and muscles in your neck are often the missing piece of the puzzle that no one else has addressed.
If you’re in Knutsford or the surrounding Cheshire area and you’re ready to find lasting relief, I can help you understand what’s causing your symptoms and create a treatment plan tailored to your needs.
At Bespoke Chiropractic, we take the time to properly diagnose the root cause of your headaches and dizziness, rather than just masking symptoms, so you don’t have to live with discomfort any longer.
Get in touch today to have a chat about your symptoms and find out how we can help.
