Head & Neck Pain Specialist
Headaches are among the most common types of pain conditions, ranging from a passing stress headache to a disabling migraine. If you're having headaches repeatedly or pain in your neck, sports medicine physician Irwin Abraham, MD, can help. At his practice on the Upper West Side of Manhattan, Dr. Abraham works to identify the causes, and then uses cutting-edge prolotherapy treatments, as well as manipulation and massage techniques, to tackle headaches and neck pain. Call the New York City office today for more information or book an appointment online.
What causes headaches and neck pain?
Headaches and migraines have numerous causes, including fevers, dehydration, allergies, tumors, injuries, sinusitis, and stress. There are also conditions like trigeminal neuralgia, which develops due to problems in the nerves serving your head.
Neck and head pain can be connected to the many nerves that extend from the neck or shoulder down to the arm, elbow, forearm, and/or hand.
Many of the 150 or so types of headaches occur for reasons that aren't fully understood. Severe headaches like migraines, for instance, could be due to some combination of genetics, your environment, and other factors.
Neck pain is usually due to a musculoskeletal problem, such as cervical radiculopathy (trapped nerves) or damaged soft tissues. Misalignment of the cervical vertebrae in your neck can cause neck pain, and pain in your neck often travels into your skull and causes headaches.
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How are headaches and neck pain treated?
Identifying the trigger for a headache can help you avoid repeated episodes, so taking steps such as managing stress, drinking plenty of water, and getting a good night's sleep can help. Supplements and vitamins are often useful to prevent headaches or migraines. Other treatments for headaches and neck pain include:
Medication
Some headaches benefit from medication to relieve pain and help reduce their frequency and severity.
Physical therapy
Physical therapy is often effective for neck pain and the headaches that neck pain can cause. Dr. Abraham has close working relationships with several physical therapists who can help you strengthen injured connective tissues in your neck and the surrounding muscles, do gentle exercise, and perform manipulations.
Manual manipulation
Dr. Abraham has expert manual manipulation skills to treat simple misalignments in your cervical vertebrae. He uses facial distortion techniques and direct neural treatment to massage soft tissues, relieving pain in your nerves and the Deep (fascial) layers of tissues that are directly under the skin and as tubes surrounding your muscles.
When headaches and neck pain are persistent, Dr. Abraham also uses prolotherapy to treat certain kinds of headaches and neck pain.
How does prolotherapy help with headaches and neck pain?
Prolotherapy uses your body's self-healing powers to effectively treat pain in your neck and back of your head, It consists of a series of injections into the painful tissues. The injections contain dextrose or glucose, which are naturally occurring sugars, and a local anesthetic.
When Dr. Abraham injects the prolotherapy solution into your neck, it activates healing cells. The cells gather and multiply, generating healthy tissue that replaces damaged, painful areas.
Dr. Abraham can also use a newer form of prolotherapy called perineural injection therapy. PIT targets the nerves nearer the surface of your skin. The sugars in the injection act on the nerve endings, stopping them from transmitting pain signals to your brain.