Common Causes Of Headaches

Headaches are a common source of pain, suffering and lost productivity in our society. Although there are many different types of headaches, with many different factors involved, there are certain common underlying causes that we find showing up again and again in the clinic. This article deals with a few of the major ones.
We could break these causes into 3 broad groups- physical (or mechanical), biochemical and emotional.
The factor that we have found to be most involved in almost all types of headaches is a biochemical one- toxicity affecting the liver. Our liver acts as a filter for our blood to break down and remove any toxins, waste products and other pollutants for the body.
In both ancient Chinese and Ayurvedic medicine headaches are associated with congestion of the liver. This causes the body to become toxic and go into a very inflammatory state, which often causes muscle aches and pains as well as headaches.
One very common symptom of this is waking around 2am (often with a headache)…according to the Chinese meridian system this is when the liver is most active. These people will often find that they manage to drop back off to sleep after 3am, when liver activity declines.
The problem is often increased by dehydration- if there is not sufficient water present to continually flush away the toxins as they are broken down by the liver then they are simply circulated around the body, making us feel awful. This is one reason why people often experience headaches and body aches when undertaking a detox program, or giving up tea or coffee.
Simply increasing the amount of clean fresh water that you drink throughout the day is one of the easiest things that you can do to decrease headaches.
Postural strain is another common underlying factor in many headaches. This is most obviously seen in the tight neck, jaw and shoulder muscles of most headache sufferers. Often this is accompanied by a loss of the normal spinal curve in the neck, resulting in the head being held forward, increasing the strain on the muscles and joints. This is often made worse by long hours at a desk or in front of a computer.
What frequently goes undetected is the role that the feet play in this pattern of postural distortion. When the arches in the feet flatten it leads to a biomechanical chain of compensation that causes the hips to sway forwards, the shoulders to slump and the head to thrust forwards. This greatly increases the strain on the neck and the chance of developing headaches.
Stress and emotional tension also play a big role. This one is generally obvious to most headache sufferers. Stress causes us to tighten up the muscles in the jaw, neck and shoulders, and if it is ongoing this leads to chronic tension and stiffness in these muscles, as well as affecting blood flow up to the brain.
It is important that all these factors, structural, chemical and emotional, be properly addressed for headaches to permanently resolved. Any treatment program which deals with only one or two factors is likely to result in only temporary success.

Article Source: http://www.approvedarticles.com

Please Rate this Article

5 out of 54 out of 53 out of 52 out of 51 out of 5 

Not yet Rated