Migraine Headaches and Stress

Many people ask if stress and migraines are linked. The answer is absolutely. Stress and migraine can go hand in hand. At Lehigh Valley Chiropractic, our chiropractors understand this stress and migraine connection and can give you simple yet effective strategies for managing the physiologic effects of stress.

Migraine Headache and Stress Hormones

When you feel stressed (work, home, kids, house, family, friends, the list goes on and on…), your body pumps catecholamines (stress hormones like epinephrine, norepinephrine). These are your fight or flight hormones. In other words, when if you needed to run from or fight a bear, these are the hormones that will give you a boost of power to make that happen. Now, in our every day lives, it’s rare that we are actually up against a bear. Instead, we are up against stresses like a bear-like boss, traffic or a toddler tantrum. Our body will pump those catecholamines regardless and our body will physiologically respond.

So you might be wondering okay, how does this stress affect my migraine? Well two of the effects of stress hormones are vasoconstriction (blood vessels tightening up) and hypermyotonicity (muscles tightening up). This combination is a like a ticking time bomb for people prone to migraines.

Chiropractic Care as Stress Relief

So how can you best manage that stress so you can manage those migraines? Chiropractic adjustments in combination with myofascial (manual (hands-on) muscle therapy) is incredibly effective for treating muscle and joint tightness and tension. You’ll be amazed at how much more relaxed those muscles in your head, neck and shoulders feel after chiropractic treatments. The chiropractors at Lehigh Valley Chiropractic provide specific chiropractic techniques that are designed to manage those physiological effects of stress.

Get a chiropractic adjustment and feel the difference in your head, neck and migraine pain.