I know it may sound silly. Headaches of course aren’t the result of an aspirin shortage. But the way most people react when they get a headache by popping pill after pill you’d think it was due to a shortage. There are, however, many safe and effective treatments for headaches. Some of them have been around for many years, and they have absolutely nothing to do with drugs or surgery.

Alternative therapies have taken the lead in the treatment of many conditions. As a matter of fact, a study in the Journal Of American Medical Association indicated that Americans now visit alternative care providers nearly twice as often as traditional physicians, and the numbers are growing.

In 1997, Americans spent an astounding $27 billion on visits to alternative practitioners, an increase of 45% over 1990. What’s more, most of this money was not reimbursed by insurance plans! Doesn’t seem very “alternative” anymore… does it? What IS shocking, however, is how long these treatments are often suppressed, even in the presence of clear and compelling evidence. I’m not saying there’s a conspiracy. That’s not it at all. This is just the way things work. It’s all economics. Why don’t you see the big oil companies running ads for electric cars? That’s because it won’t profit them. It will actually take money right out of their pockets. They’d much rather see you keep driving that 70’s gas-guzzler. For the same reason, you won’t find billion dollar drug companies proclaiming the wonders of drugless miracles. It may not be fair, but it is good business. It’s that simple. That’s why you really have to watch who you listen to and find out the real source of the information. After all, until last year, hormone replacement therapy was the miracle “cure-all” for post-menopausal women. Now, after 30 years of use, it’s been linked to an increase rate of breast cancer, stroke and heart disease.

So what about headaches? Let’s start with a few facts that most people don’t know about headaches: At least 50 million Americans see their doctors for headaches each year, and an unknown number simply treat head pain themselves. Two-thirds of headache sufferers remain undiagnosed. Headache accounts for 8 million office visits each year. 9 out of 10 Americans suffer from headaches. 95% of headaches are primary headaches, such as tension, migraine, or cluster headaches. These types of headaches are not caused by disease. The headache itself is the primary concern. Nearly 90 percent of primary headaches are tension-type.

So, if all these headaches are tension-type, I bet you’re wondering what a tension-type headache is. Tension-type headaches can be caused when malfunctioning spinal bones cause joint, nerve and muscle irritation in your neck. The pain can travel from the top of your shoulders, up the back of your neck and into the head, sometimes forming a band-like pain around the head. “The greatest majority of primary headaches are associated with muscle tension in the neck,” says Dr. George B. McClelland, a doctor of chiropractic from Christiansburg, VA, and member of the American Chiropractic Association’s (ACA) Board of Governors. “Today, Americans engage in more sedentary activities than they used to, and more hours are spent in one fixed position or posture. This can increase joint irritation and muscle tension in the neck, upper back and scalp, causing your head to ache.” So what can you do to help this most common type of headache?

A 1995 study in the Journal of Manipulative and Physiological Therapeutics found that spinal manipulative therapy is an effective treatment for tension headaches and that those who ceased chiropractic treatment after four weeks experienced a sustained therapeutic benefit in contrast with those patients who received a commonly prescribed medication. The most likely explanation for Chiropractic’s great results with headaches is that the adjustment gets to the cause of the headache by relieving the tension on the joint, muscle and nerve. Drugs may temporarily numb some of the pain, but they never actually fix the problem. There are many alternative therapies available for tension type headaches. To learn more about some the more advanced treatment options for headaches, visit www.BackCareTreatment.com. Most people with headaches don’t have to suffer anymore. There are many drug and surgery free options available.