Jean and her migraines
Jean, a 50 year old part-time receptionist, had been suffering with migraines since her early twenties. Although her medication had always helped she was finding the drugs were not stopping the migraines like they used to and they were becoming more frequent. Her GP had tried various different pain killers but none of them seemed to be helping. She was now finding that her social and family life was suffering as a result.
On examination she had good general posture although she leaned her head too far forward putting undue strain on her neck muscles. Her breathing was quite shallow and was coming from her upper chest and not her diaphragm which she believed was due to getting very stressed at work. On closer inspection she had numerous tender points along her spine and base of her skull which, when pressed, produced a sharp pain in her neck and a deep ache in the base of her skull. She also had some wear and tear in the upper part of her neck which she put down to a car accident in her thirties.
After 3 sessions to relieve the tenderness in her neck muscles and improve joint mobility, Jean felt a ‘lifting’ of the ‘muzziness’ she had had for some time. A further four sessions were needed, spaced out monthly, to continue to improve her resilience. At a 3-month check-up Jean had not had a single migraine. Jean was warned that her migraines would inevitably return but that pain killers should be more effective now. With occasional treatments to maintain the mobility in her neck she would hopefully have the odd migraine two or three times a year instead of weekly.