Migraines & Neck Disorders

Migraines & Neck Disorders 

It is estimated that about 38 million American adults suffer from migraines, and nine-in-ten report that to some degree, migraines affect their ability to carry out their normal social, leisure, work, and everyday activities. Unfortunately, there isn’t a one-size-fits-all treatment for migraines as the condition is not well understood and management tends to focus on lifestyle modifications to avoid potential triggers for a patient’s particular migraine profile. However, a 2015 study found that 87% of chronic migraine headache patients also have neck pain¹. Compared with the non-headache sufferers the researchers questioned, individuals with migraines were roughly three-to-four times more likely to have neck pain¹. To highlight this relationship between the neck and migraines, a 2023 study looked at 295 migraine patients and found that more than half (51.9%) also had concurrent neck pain¹. Further analysis showed that migraine sufferers with concurrent neck pain reported more severe migraine symptoms, and the more disabling their neck pain, the worse their migraines¹. This makes some sense as the trigeminal nerve, which helps innervate the face and has been linked to migraines, exits the spinal cord through the upper cervical spine and travels into the face. In addition to irritation of the trigeminal nerve having a part to play in the migraine process, previous studies have identified a link between migraines and impaired cervical range of motion, reduced neck muscle endurance, and the presence of trigger points in the neck muscles¹.

The good news is that doctors of chiropractic have a number of tools in their treatment repertoire for addressing these issues: spinal manipulation, mobilization, myofascial release, and other manual therapies to dry needling, neck-specific exercise, postural training, dietary recommendations, and more¹. It all depends on what works best for each individual patient.