Tuesday, December 13, 2005

Treating a Headache Just Got Easier

KFYR-TV - Bismarck,ND,USA... Nothing helped. It wasn`t until Maureen came here, to the St. Alexius Center for Integrated Medicine for occupational therapy, that she found relief. ...
Maureen Orthmeyer has been battling severe headaches for more than half of her life.

She`s tried just about everything to get rid of them. "I took all the mercury out of my mouth, thinking that that would help too. I lost a lot of weight thinking the stress off my body would be helpful. I did exercises," she said. She even cut her hair, thinking her long hair was weighing her down, and causing headaches. Nothing helped.

It wasn`t until Maureen came here, to the St. Alexius Center for Integrated Medicine for occupational therapy, that she found relief. "We`re trying to do mainly hands on therapy to get the inflammation down in the muscles. Get rid of the trigger points, get rid of some of their pain," Occupational Therapist Karen Gayton said. First an assessment is done to figure out what`s causing the headache.

It could be any number of things like stress, tension, hormones, certain foods, and allergies. Karen says they mainly treat patients with tension headaches, which can be a result of stiff muscles in the neck or back. "With a lot of clients it`s not just getting the inflammation down, but getting the flexibility back.

Increasing the range of motion, getting mobility back," Karen said. And there are all sorts of tools they use and clients can use to help loosen the muscles and stop the headaches. Occupational Therapy incorporates stress management techniques that people can do at home like this miracle ball and these theracanes.

There`s a manual theracane and an electrical theracane that can target certain areas on the back that are causing the headache. "My headaches went from a 7-8 pain scale to a 1-2 now. And I have a lot more energy," Maureen said. It`s only been 5 weeks, and her severe migraines are no longer controlling her life. Now she can look forward to many more pain-free days.

More about headache:
http://www.dreddyclinic.com/ayurvedic/ayurvedic.htm
http://www.dreddyclinic.com/education/education.htm
http://www.dreddyclinic.com/

No comments:

Kamarani