Natural Remedies For Headaches

Natural remedies for headaches can be simple. Most of us have experienced a headache at one time or another. When you have one come on that doesn’t want to let go…what do you do? Maybe you reach for an OTC (Over the counter)headache medication? But what if you don’t want to try medication right away. What are your options?

Let’s discuss options for natural remedies for headaches.

In the event that your headache is benign (that is, not a medical emergency or any specific organic disease process), you may first consider that you can be simply stressed emotionally or physically and you need to sit down and rest. Sometimes taking a few minutes to relax can help the body calm itself and the headache can be relieved.

Tension

To understand this let’s consider that a headache can be caused by tension. Physical tension can tighten muscles and the muscles around the head and neck can be under tremendous strain which can cause a headache. If you are experiencing emotional stress, this can also impact your physical state as well, causing headache.

Dehydration

If you are engaging in excessive activity and you are perspiring, you can dehydrate and this can impact blood sugar and even blood pressure along with electrolyte concentrations in your body causing you to have a headache. Drinking a sugary drink with minerals, like a sports drink, can help replenish lost fluids. If you are diabetic, special care must be taken with regard to excessively sweating or activating muscles which can impact your sugar metabolism. 

Poor Posture

Poor posture with a forward head position and slouching upper body can create tension by having your head’s weight place excessive pressure on the spine. This will cause your neck, upper body and back muscles to react and tighten to hold you upright and this can also cause headache pain. Simply remembering to be more aware of your posture and hold yourself upright, easing tension on your spine can help to reduce the tendency to experience a headache.

These simple natural remedies for headache outlined above can help to ease common, benign headaches in many cases.

If your headache is long lasting, or interferes with your quality of life, you may need to follow up with your physician to rule out any disease process.

If no disease process is suspected, then following up with your Physical Therapist or Chiropractor to help you relieve and correct muscular imbalance and/or joint restrictions that may be contributing to your heartache might be your solution. 

Various conservative treatments are used to treat headaches, like manual therapy (Joint mobilization/Manipulation for example), mechanical or manual traction, myofascial release, cranial sacral release, cold laser therapy, ultrasound, dry needling, electrical stimulation, therapeutic exercise, muscle energy technique to name a few. Your chiropractor or therapist can help find the treatment that works best for your headache!

Author: Jay Herrera, DPT