When the pain is in your head — the cause is often in your neck
Headaches are one of the most common reasons people come to see us. Tension headaches, cervicogenic headaches, and many migraines share a spinal connection that medication alone won't fix.
A large number of the headache patients we see in Groton have been managing with over-the-counter pain relievers for months or years — sometimes daily. What they often haven't had is a thorough evaluation of the cervical spine to see whether neck dysfunction is driving the pattern.
Forward head posture, desk work, old whiplash injuries, and accumulated stress all create restriction in the cervical vertebrae. When those segments aren't moving properly, the surrounding muscles tighten and the nerves that run through the area get irritated. That combination reliably produces headache pain — and it doesn't respond to ibuprofen because ibuprofen doesn't move a stuck vertebra.
Before any treatment, Dr. Steve performs a complete examination and posture analysis to understand exactly what's happening in your neck. Patients regularly tell us they appreciate how thorough the initial evaluation is — one reviewer noted they were "impressed with his science-based evaluation on the first visit."
Treatment focuses on restoring normal movement to the cervical segments most involved in your headache pattern. Many patients notice meaningful improvement within the first several visits. The goal is not to manage the pain indefinitely — it's to correct the underlying cause so the headaches stop.
The American Chiropractic Association and the Journal of Manipulative and Physiological Therapeutics both have published research on chiropractic and headache outcomes if you'd like to read the clinical evidence.
Call us or request a new patient appointment. Dr. Steve will take the time to understand what’s going on before recommending anything.