By Jeff Carter, PT MBA: Do you have headaches that are causing you grief, or do know others who are suffering from headaches? You or your loved ones are not alone. Headaches are so common in our society, and they are frequently the cause of work loss, reduced productivity, and grief. I love to treat patients with headaches in my practice because they almost always greatly improve with treatment.
The key to success is cooperatively (patient and therapist) working together in treating the real causes of the headaches. Many patients receive prescription drugs by well meaning doctors or have spent years returning to their chiropractors only receiving temporary relief while spending a lot of time and money doing so.
I have been a physical therapist for 34 years and have treated many patients with chronic headaches. We start treating by listening to the patient, taking an extensive history, performing a comprehensive evaluation, analyzing the results and providing the patient with a comprehensive explanation of the results – exploring why they have headaches and what we are going to do together to fix this problem.
Most often, treating chronic headaches is not like “instant potatoes and microwave results.” It takes time, effort and collaboration between the patient and the therapist. It takes compliance to the treatment program established at the initial evaluation. The beauty is the lasting results! Lives are changed.
I can’t tell you how many times I have seen relief in the faces and body language of my patients when we talk after the evaluation. I see hope in their eyes and this thrills me. But what is better yet, on the day of their discharge, when they tell me how they have their life back! This is what it is all about.From time to time, I will post more about headaches and what kinds of interventions we use to treat them. If you are interested in me blogging more about headaches, please go to Apogee Therapy Center’s Facebook page and type “Tell me more” about headaches.