Headache Disorders: A Case Study

Headache disorders have affected approximately half of the adults population worldwide1. In particular, headache disorders can be classified as various categories, and two major categories are primary and secondary headache disorders2. While some primary headache disorders such as migraine and tension-type headaches have drawn a lot of attentions from the the public, secondary headaches such as cervicogenic headache (CGH) has drawn less attentions since it is less prevalent than those primary headache disoders3. However, in fact, CGH is continuing to impact patients’ lives as well, and its prevalence is around 2.5%-4.1%4. Consequently, CGH is also need more attentions from the public in order to figure out optimal interventions for CGH patients. CGH is a secondary headache disorder, and it is not as common as other headache disorders since the pain is actually from the neck instead of the head5. In order to alleviate symptoms of CGH, various treatment options have been utilized among patients, such as purchasing over-the-counter medicines (OTCs) such as aspirin and aleve, and utilizing complementary and alternative medicines (CAMs) such as acupuncture, massage, and chiropractic6,7. …show more content…
In particular, among many of these CAMs, the use of yoga was 9.1% and the use of chiropractic/osteopathic was 8.4% in 2012, which were two of the most common approaches use among CAMs8. Additionally, there are sufficient evidences that support these CAMs are effective treatments for CGH. For example, research indicates that yoga and chiropractic are able to alleviate headache symptoms efficiently and effectively. As a spinal manipulative therapy, chiropractic treatment has helped numerous patients in alleviating cervicogenic headache related symptoms