Chiropractic Vs. Amitriptyline for Tension Headache Relief

By Dr. Dana C. Williamson

If you are suffering with headaches, chances are your quality of life is being seriously affected. In our stress-filled society, tension headaches are a serious problem. This is evident especially when it comes to performing common daily tasks and engaging in our relationships with friends and family. A population study done by Duke University showed that “regular [daily] activities were limited by 38% of tension-type headache attacks” and that “89% of tension-type headache sufferers reported that their headaches had negatively affected their relationships with friends, colleagues, and family.”1

Understanding what causes these types of headaches may enable you to seek the appropriate care you need to get rid of the pain and get your life back. Tension headaches are called cervicogenic headaches in the medical community, which is just a fancy way of saying that they are caused by mechanical dysfunction in the neck. The neck is one of three sections of the spine, which is made up of a column of bones, called vertebrae. These bones form individual joints, which are made up of two bones with a shock-absorbing disc sandwiched between them. These bones allow passage of spinal nerves between them and, when healthy, protect these nerves from injury. The brain controls every function of the body and communicates with the body through the spinal cord and they are both protected by bones. The brain is protected by the skull and the spinal cord is protected by the spinal column. So, the first place there can be interference between the communication of the brain with the rest of the body is where the nerves branching from the spinal cord exit the spine.

Injuries such as whiplash from an auto accident, a slip and fall, or a sports injury, can cause individual joints of the cervical spine to become stuck, like suction cups. Thus, when the joints do not move normally, the connective tissues of the joint get irritated and cause inflammation. This condition is commonly known as osteoarthritis. One of the components of inflammation is swelling. This swelling and its resultant chemical irritants interfere with normal nerve transmissions. When the nerves that control the muscles of the neck get pinched, choked, or irritated, they will cause the muscles to become constantly tense, resulting in a tension headache. As a side note, we must remember that spinal nerves are very delicate. Beginning in the 1970′s, Dr. Chung Ha Suh, Ph.D and his colleagues at the Biomechanics Department of the University of Colorado demonstrated that it only took 10 mm Hg. of pressure (the weight of a dime) on a spinal nerve to decrease transmission in that nerve by up to 50%. In conclusion, it makes sense that if we restore normal joint function, inflammation will be reduced, normal nerve function and muscle tone will be restored, and the tension headache will be relieved.

There are many treatment options available for tension headache sufferers. For the purposes of brevity, we will review the safety and effectiveness of two popular approaches: medication and cervical manipulation. In two controlled trials that Duke University reviewed, they found that cervical spinal manipulation, or what chiropractors call “adjustments”, resulted in “immediate improvement in headache severity…and a course of manipulation treatments resulted in sustained improvement in headache frequency and severity.”2 In other words, the effects of consistent, repeated adjustments over a 6 week period of time were both fast-acting and lasting.

The effects and safety of amitriptyline, a headache drug, was compared with the effects of cervical adjustments for the treatment of tension headache in another trial. They found that amitriptyline had a greater effect on the reduction of headaches than adjustments during the 6 week trial period, but that adverse effects were much more common with the group taking the drug than those receiving adjustments. Only a 4% incidence of adverse effects were experienced by the cervical manipulation group. Conversely, a whopping 82% of the drug patients experienced adverse effects.3 Most importantly, after both treatments were stopped, the group taking the drug returned to the same headache frequency and level that they experienced before the trial, while the group that received adjustments sustained the improvements that they had maintained after the trial.4 It just goes to show what happens when the cause of a condition is treated versus just the symptoms.

As another option, the following video,

1,2,3,4 Duke University Evidence-based Practice Center/Center for Clinical Health Policy Research

Dr. Dana Williamson is a member in good standing of the Virginia Chiropractic Association. He is an expert in the natural treatment of headaches at his Chiropractic Centers of Virginia offices located in Richmond and Mechanicsville.

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Tags: causes of headaches, chiropractic, chiropractor, headache cures, headache relief, headache treatment, headaches, health, health care, neck pain, pain relief, stress, Stress Relief, tension headaches, what is a headache, whiplash symptoms

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