There is a headache clinic near my home with a big silhouette of a skull on the sign out the front. I did a quick google search and found out that it’s home to a chiropractor who specializes in pain relief for headaches and migraines. Chiropractors focus on the mechanics of your musculoskeletal system, especially your spine, and apply treatments that might include massaging trigger points or gently realigning your neck.
Every time I drive past the location, I feel very conflicted. On the one hand, I’m open to trying anything that might help me with my migraines. On the other hand, I had a disappointing experience with a chiropractor 20+ years ago that has turned me off for life.
[When I was in my 20’s I was working as an architect. We still did most of our drafting by hand. As a result, I got a repetitive stress injury that was causing pain in my right arm, shoulder, and neck. I went to a local lady chiropractor to get some assistance. After a brief assessment, she told me that she could help by doing a ‘spinal manipulation’ and handed me a medical disclaimer to sign. As I was reading, I got to a section where I had to absolve her of all liability if, on the remotest chance, she caused damage to my spinal cord that resulted in me being in a wheelchair for life. I apologized and said I had an (ir)rational fear of having my neck broken and couldn’t sign it. I was very apologetic for wasting her time and stood to leave. She then called me something to the effect of ‘a cowardly cry-baby’ and bullied me relentlessly to sign the paperwork and let her proceed. I eventually left the office – with no spinal manipulation – which was probably a good thing given how tense my neck muscles must have been by that stage!]
As a migraineur, ‘I’d do anything to get rid of my migraines’ becomes something of a mantra. The reality is that there will always be ‘one step too far’ that we are not prepared to go.
Every time I drive past that skull-sign on the headache clinic, I feel conflicted emotions: regret (I know people who have benefited from chiropractors); fear (I still dread the idea of someone moving my spine around); curiosity (this is a different practitioner with a different personality so the experience is likely to be different to the one I had 20+ years ago); and a smidgen of rage (no health practitioner should bully a patient into any procedure they feel uncomfortable with).
Here’s hoping you find ways to get better – ways that work for you. As always, keep looking for doctors you can build a rapport with, and seek out their advice before making any changes to your treatment plan.
If you’re interested in reading more, there’s a very detailed description that goes through everything from what a migraine is, how pain potentially presents itself to the brain, and how chiropractors can help here:
Chiropractic and Migraine Headache (chiro-trust.org)
Simpler reads are here:
Can Chiropractic Therapy or Other Alternative Treatments Help With Migraine? — Migraine Again
Chiropractic for migraine: Does it work? (medicalnewstoday.com)
And because I couldn’t help myself and had to go looking:
Adverse Effects of Chiropractic | Science-Based Medicine (sciencebasedmedicine.org)
The Mindful Migraine 
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