Migraine is a debilitating
condition for its sufferers. It’s expensive in terms of
pain, money, and pharmacological use need. Drugs are still
the “gold standard” of care. Patients often request choices from their
migraine healthcare providers for non-drug options.
Baton Rouge migraine sufferers want options!
Spine & Sports Rehab Center puts forward that exercise may be one
such beneficial choice.
EXERCISE FOR CHRONIC PAIN
Migraine is, for most Baton Rouge migraine sufferers,
a chronic pain condition. It is not usually a one and done situation. Chronic pain disrupts
the nervous system and the specific pain-generator. Researchers described evidence that exercise helps a
variety of chronic pain conditions including migraine directly and indirectly
with a goal of changing the cycle of pain,
sedentariness, and declining disability. These
changes do not come overnight. They come with
long-term, regular, individualized exercise giving rise to improvement in pain and function. (1) Spine & Sports Rehab Center tells
our Baton Rouge chiropractic patients with all types of
conditions that it is slow and steady commitment that gets the result.
EXERCISE FOR MIGRAINE BEING STUDIED
Researchers and migraine sufferers alike hold out hope for an easy, low-cost approach to migraine care. Case in point, a recent comparison study of
neck-specific exercise set against sham ultrasound to reduce
the frequency and intensity of migraine attacks. (2) A recent meta-analysis
in Headache stated that aerobic exercise for migraine patients
decreased the number of migraine days. (3) These are valuable
outcomes for Baton Rouge migraine treatment.
EXERCISE BENEFITS: Overall and Migraine Specific
Baton Rouge chiropractic patients are manytimes
urged to exercise. Exercise appears to be a recommended
panacea for everything from back pain to migraine to depression to neck pain
and so much more. Why? It works. Exercise stifles inflammation
via reduction of inflammatory modulators (many cytokines) and stress hormones
(growth hormone and cortisol). Exercise constructively impacts
the microvascular system that possibly influences
a certain type of cortical spreading depression. Specific
to migraine, exercise helped migraine self-efficacy by allowing
the migraine sufferer to have a sense of control which lessened
migraine burden. How much exercise produces this type of effect?
“Sufficiently rigorous aerobic exercise” resulted in statistically
significant decrease in migraine frequency, intensity and
duration. That is appreciated by Baton Rouge
migraine sufferers! Of course, higher intensity exercise appears
to bring about more benefit. Pharmacological drugs like topiramate were
reported to be superior to exercise, but including
exercise into its use was suggested to be beneficial. Migraine sufferers
who also experience neck pain or tension headache are reported to benefit from exercise. Low impact is worthwhile
if high impact exercise is not possible. (4) Spine & Sports Rehab Center concurs
with the researchers’ bottom-line: exercise is a reasonable
evidence-based recommendation for migraine prevention.
CONTACT Spine & Sports Rehab Center
Listen to this PODCAST
with Dr. David Kulla on The
Back Doctors Podcast with Dr. Michael Johnson as he shares
how he followed The
Cox®
Technic System of Spinal Pain Management for his patient with
migraine which incorporated Cox® Technic spinal manipulation
as well as exercise for appreciated relief by his patient.