Why am I telling you this?  Because I get really frustrated when my patients tell me, “I was told, well we don’t where migraine comes from.” The typical journey for many of you is, “we’ll try this and if doesn’t work, we’ll increase the dose or perhaps we’ll try something else”  or ” there’s a new drug on the market and perhaps this might work.” 

Sound familiar? This is guesswork. You still don’t know the cause of your headache or migraine. You don’t know why your headache and migraine treatment is not working.After a while, or along the way, frustrated with temporary relief from medication or concerns about what it is doing to your body, you try a different treatment/s. You have often given up and resigned yourself to a lifetime of ongoing medication. This is a tough for all involved.

Personally I despair. We know that research doesn’t become clinical practice until around 20 years later – this means you are being treated with information that is 20 years old!

I believe it is much more useful to approach headache and migraine differently; instead of, “We don’t know what causes headache or migraine” why not, “Whilst the exact cause of headache and migraine may not yet have been determined, here is what we do know.” This is an exciting starting point because there is a lot we do know!

My experience is that most of you are treading water, literally going nowhere, because of the information you are being given, information that is not only round 20 years old, but also incomplete. How ironic. The very model that is there for your benefit, is the biggest hurdle to optimal treatment of your headache or migraine, and ongoing search for a solution.

The information I will be giving you may be confronting, because it will contradict what many of you have been told.  For some of you, it will increase your frustration, and for others it will be a relief as you have suspected your neck is part of your headache or migraine condition.

I want you to have access to balanced, up-to-date information, so that you can make informed decisions about the management of your headache or migraine. This is empowering. Instead of being a passive bystander in the management of your headache or migraine you will be able to have meaningful discussion with your healthcare professional and make choices about your treatment based on current and unbiased knowledge.

Now I am not saying this situation is deliberate. It’s not. Rather a case of using information that is not current and also not considering all possibilities.  Given the vast body of research, to ignore basic neuro anatomy which demonstrates clearly that influences outside of the brain could be responsible for the fundamental disorder in headache and migraine process is perplexing – to say the least! Why is there a reluctance by the Medical Model of Headache to accept that potentially the reason for headache or migraine is not in the brain?

So, I invite you to download my complimentary guide, “How to Find a Solution to Headache and Migraine; Why the Answer to One Question and Taking One Step Could Create a Better Life”, which explains why a diagnosis is not particularly helpful. After-all a diagnosis is just based on a set of signs and symptoms. It doesn’t tell us what the cause is.

Why stress, often blamed for the cause of triggering of headache or migraine, is not the cause, and why the answer to one question will tell you without doubt, the cause of your headache or migraine – no examination needed and no guesswork!

How the answers to other important questions also indicate the reason for your headache or migraine, or that an examination will clearly demonstrate the cause of your headache or migraine and why, if you have been affected by headache or migraine for years, it will not take years of treatment to at least achieve significant improvement – your headache and migraine treatment can take a different direction knowing whether your neck is a the reason for your headache or migraine.

Sincerely Dean Watson

MAppSc(Res); GradDipAdvManipTher; International Educator & Mentor & Consultant; Headache & Migraine Physiotherapist;  Director, The Headache Clinic & Watson Headache Institute; PhD Candidate Murdoch University, Western Australia Adjunct Lecturer, Masters Program, Physiotherapy School,  University of South Australia