Headaches and migraines can be debilitating, chewing into work, relationships, and the parts of life you actually care about. At Van Every Family Chiropractic Center, our doctors take a natural, drug-free approach that addresses what is actually causing the head pain instead of only masking it with medication.
Up to 95% of headaches are primary headaches, meaning they are not caused by disease but by dysfunction in the neck, muscles, or nervous system, which is exactly what chiropractic care is built to address. The upper cervical spine (C1-C2) connects to head pain through blood flow, nerve supply, and its closeness to the brainstem, and that connection is where our neurologically-focused approach is aimed.
How Headaches Show Up
Headache pain rarely shows up the same way twice, and the pattern usually points to what is driving it. A tight band circling the head with a dull, constant ache often points to tension building in the neck and shoulders. A migraine tends to throb on one side, arrives with nausea or sensitivity to light and sound, and can bring visual disturbances before the pain even starts. Pain that begins in the neck and radiates up and around the head, worse with certain neck movements, is often cervicogenic, meaning it starts in the joints of the cervical spine rather than the head itself. Some people deal with sharp, severe pain clustered around one eye that comes in waves tied to their sleep-wake cycle, and others live with headaches on 15 or more days a month that have not responded to anything they have tried. Whatever the pattern looks like for you, it tells our doctors something about where to look first.
Not All Migraines Get the Same Fix
A migraine centered around your right eye is not treated the same way as one that sits across your forehead. Our doctors identify exactly where your pain lives, whether that is the sinuses, a cranial nerve, or a specific bone in the skull, and adjust that precise area rather than treating every headache the same generic way.
Our Approach
Care starts with an INSiGHT scan, thermal, heart rate variability, and muscle (sEMG) readings, that shows us where your nervous system is under stress, paired with a report of findings we review together before we touch your neck.
Using Koren Specific Technique (KST) and Talsky Tonal Chiropractic (TTC), our doctors give special attention to the upper cervical spine and the cranial bones, light, nervous-system focused adjustments with no cracking, popping, or twisting, adjusted seated, standing, or in whatever position is most comfortable. We also work into the neck and shoulders, where tension frequently feeds a headache from below.
Comfort During a Migraine Visit
If you come in mid-migraine, we will turn the lights down and keep the room quiet while we work. You do not have to wait until the pain passes to get help. Massage therapy is a helpful complement here too. Our massage tool calms tense muscles in the neck and shoulders and can also be used over the sinuses for extra relief.
What Patients Notice
Patients often notice fewer headaches, shorter episodes when they do happen, and less reliance on medication over time. Many also notice a higher threshold for the things that used to set a headache off, stress, weather changes, hormonal shifts, since much of what we are doing is lowering the overall irritation in the nervous system rather than just chasing the pain in the moment. We hear a common refrain from people who lived with migraines for years before coming in: they wonder why they waited so long.
Take the First Step
You do not have to wait for the next migraine to start treating the cause. Our doctors see patients on Saturdays in Royal Oak.
Common Questions
Can chiropractic really help with migraines?
How quickly will I see results?
Can children receive chiropractic care for headaches?
Do I have to stop taking my headache medication?
What if I have had headaches for years and nothing has worked?
When should I seek emergency care instead?
Related: Back & Neck Pain · TMJ & Jaw Pain · Posture & Tech Neck · Vertigo & Dizziness · Concussion & Post-Concussion Syndrome
