Signs and Symptoms

Pain or ache over the side of the head

Description

This type of headache follows tension situations where the muscles of the neck and side of the head become over contracted.

Causes

This condition usually follows stressful situations, or in persons who clench their teeth.

Standard Treatment

Medications to reduce inflammation, muscle relaxants or mood changing medications like tranquilizers.

AK Approach

In addition to most of the standard treatment, the structures of the neck and skull are tested to find imbalances. Common findings include poor posture, TMJ problems, cranial imbalances and poor response to stress. The treatment program is individualized to address the structural and chemical imbalances in the person. These could run the gamut from environmental sensitivities causing muscle contractions, to strengthening the neck muscles to support the head, to correcting the muscles that hold your jaw, to correcting cranial stress factors, to altering the diet to enable the person to make more stress hormones, to finally teaching the person to do some of the corrections to be better able to handle stress situations.