Where most chronic headaches actually come from
Most people are told their chronic headaches come from stress, tension, dehydration, or hormones. Any of those can set one off, sure. What none of them explains is why one person gets a headache every week for years while the next person almost never does. In a lot of the chronic cases I see, the difference is structural: a subluxation in the upper neck.
The atlas (C1) and axis (C2), the top two vertebrae in your neck, move more freely than any other part of the spine, and they subluxate more easily because of it. When they shift, they affect the brainstem, the arteries feeding the back of the brain, and the nerve roots in the upper neck. Every one of those has a direct hand in how headaches happen.
"If you have had headaches for years and nobody has ever checked your upper neck for subluxation, there is a good chance the real cause was never touched."
Types of headaches linked to cervical subluxation
- Cervicogenic headaches — pain that starts in the neck and refers up into the head. Often one-sided, and worse with neck movement. Frequently misread as migraine.
- Tension headaches — the classic "band" around the head. Usually driven by upper cervical muscle tension guarding a subluxation underneath.
- Occipital neuralgia — sharp, shooting pain at the base of the skull and behind one eye. Almost always starts at the C1–C2 junction where the greater occipital nerve exits.
- Post-concussion headaches — head trauma very often creates upper cervical subluxation, and correcting it is frequently the missing piece in post-concussion recovery.
Upper cervical correction for headaches
With headache cases, I start with upper cervical X-rays. I look at the atlas and axis for rotation and side-to-side shift, and the correction I give is specific to what those films show. This is not generalized neck cracking. It is a precise correction of a precisely identified problem.
A lot of people come to me after years of headaches and a long list of things they have already tried. When we correct the upper cervical subluxation, the result is usually different in kind, not just degree. Fewer headaches, yes, but also an answer for why they were happening in the first place.
The goal is not to manage your headache. It is to correct the subluxation in your upper neck that is creating the nerve interference behind it. Correct the structure and the nervous system can finally work without something in its way.
What the X-rays show
X-rays are the foundation of how I work. Weight-bearing cervical films show me the exact position of every vertebra from C1 to C7, including the rotation and side shifts you simply cannot feel with your hands.
The films below are from a real patient. The first one shows a 95.7% loss of the normal neck curve. After a course of upper cervical correction, the follow-up shows real structural improvement: down to 64.5% loss, with measurable curve restored.
Actual patient X-rays. Initial exam 3/22/2023 · Re-exam 9/8/2023. Results vary individually.
Children and headaches
Headaches in kids are more common than they used to be, and they usually get blamed on screens or stress. What gets missed is upper cervical subluxation from birth, a fall, or a sports hit. I check children here in Royal Palm Beach and Wellington for it as part of looking at their headaches.
Kids compensate well, and they do not always tell you something is wrong. That is exactly the problem. A subluxation can sit there quietly for years while the body works around it. The sooner we correct the foundation, the better it holds.
What your first visit covers: your health history, a postural and structural exam, and upper cervical X-rays when they are called for. I will walk you through exactly what the films show before any care starts. Every correction comes from what I find on examination, not from a protocol.