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Your head is pounding again, and you have a bottle of pills on your nightstand — but some medications can actually worsen headaches when they’re used too often. It’s time to talk about osteopathic manipulation.
Headache, episodic migraine, and chronic migraine disorders can mean days lost to pain and disorientation, low quality of life, and dependency on medications that ultimately make things worse, not better.
Fortunately, there’s a non-drug treatment that’s been shown to be effective for people who suffer from frequent headaches and chronic migraine episodes.
At Serenity Osteopathic, LLC, in Satellite Beach, Florida, Tiffany Noblitt, DO, provides osteopathic manipulative treatment (OTM) to relieve the pain of headaches and migraine episodes.
Headaches vs. migraine episodes
While the result may feel similar — pounding, relentless pain in your head, neck, and even face — headaches and migraine episodes aren’t strictly the same.
Migraines include symptoms such as photophobia (light sensitivity), phonophobia (sound sensitivity), nausea and/or vomiting, and can also cause visual disturbances and balance issues.
Chronic migraine disorder is recognized if you have:
- Episodes 15 or more days in a month for at least 3 months
- Migraine symptoms on at least 8 of those days
- Multiple episodes that last longer than 4 hours
Chronic daily headache is recognized if you have:
- A headache 15 or more days in a month
- Your headaches last less than 4 hours
- The problem continues for months or longer
Even if you only have occasional headaches or migraine episodes (episodic migraine or headache), you can still be knocked flat by pain and other symptoms.
Traditional treatment for headaches and migraines
The usual treatment for headaches and migraine disorders is medication. Headaches are often treated with paracetamol (Tylenol®), ibuprofen (Advil®), or naproxen sodium (Aleve®). Migraine episodes may be treated with a family of drugs known as triptans, or even with opioids.
Medication treatment can cause many issues, including gastrointestinal upset, kidney or liver disorders, addiction, or rebound headaches, which can be even more difficult to treat. Finding alternatives to painkillers to treat headaches and migraine episodes is imperative.
OTM for chronic migraine episodes and other headaches
Osteopathic manipulation is a drug‑free therapy that may help reduce the frequency and intensity of certain headaches and migraine episodes. Evidence from multiple studies suggests that OMT can be beneficial in reducing the frequency, intensity, and duration of headaches, particularly tension-type headaches (TTHs) and migraine episodes.
Dr. Noblitt uses gentle pressure and manipulation of your musculoskeletal system to adjust and realign your body, eliminating common headache and migraine triggers like pinched nerves, muscle knots, and joint dysfunction.
This process can be performed whether or not you have an active headache or migraine episode. With repeated treatment, many patients experience fewer or less severe episodes over time.
To see if you can benefit from OTM for headaches or chronic migraines, contact Serenity Osteopathic today.