In December of last year I went to my doctor because I had headaches for weeks. She poked around a little, felt my neck and said that I had muscle spasms and that my neck was tight. She prescribed some ibuprofen and a muscle relaxer and suggested a massage. The massage was wonderful and it did seem to help a little. The muscle relaxers really knocked me out but did loosen things up.
Now it is April and I still keep getting the headaches and the neck aches. I take the muscle relaxers from time to time but everything comes right back. My neck is still very tight and sore and it makes a crunching noise when I try to loosen my neck. The headaches usually start low by my neck and creep up to my head.
Ok so here is my question.... What would you do? Would you go back to your doctor, ask for some tests? See a chiropractor? Or get a massage and see if that helps?
Thank You :)

i went to see my Dr on Friday and asked him about seeing a Chiropractor and he told me that Chiropractors are NOT Dr's and they do not have a Degree to be Dr's so he would NOT advise me to go... i showed him how tight my neck and shoulders are from my headaches and he said that a Massage would be very good for that/but not a Chiropractor... he said he could tell me some stories, but refused too because of Legal Matters between Dr's... i have always heard that Chiropractors were Great! but i guess you have to make sure you get to one that is Truly Qualified... Good Luck!

I agree with Lilz's doctor. After i saw a chiropractor i seemed to get a lot worse. I since have needed to crack and click my neck and back more and more. I also made the mistake of getting too much hands-on (ie. massage) work. The more massage I got, the more massage i needed, and the harder i needed it! To the point where I asked I friend to massage so hard that he gave me quite severe brusing ...

My point is that i think you can get addicted to massage. It helps in the short term - like if you need to get through an important day or an exam or something. But otherwise, steer clear I say and do lots of stretching, Pilates and relaxation exercises.

I think gentle exercise and posture is the key to muscle-related headache.

steer clear I say and do lots of stretching, Pilates and relaxation exercises.
I think gentle exercise and posture is the key to muscle-related headache.exactly... i got a Beginners Yoga DVD and i Love It! it leaves me so Calm and Stretched... i think everyone should try it...

Well i've had the same problems as you, although i've had continuous headaches for almost 2 years almost weekly. First i tried going to doctors, and it didn't really work, as some of them said it was from eating too much chocolate, it was just monthlies, too much of this, too much of that..

And my dad has been going to the chiropractor for quite a while and when i went i found out it was partly a posture problem. Which my chiropractor has helped heaps. I am only 14 years old and it has worked for me, although i still get headaches from time to time.

I guess it depends on which types of headaches you have. They could also be related to head injuries, for example splitting your head open, like i did (which was about 11 or 12 years ago). And i was told that could also be a source of the headaches.

In December of last year I went to my doctor because I had headaches for weeks. She poked around a little, felt my neck and said that I had muscle spasms and that my neck was tight. She prescribed some ibuprofen and a muscle relaxer and suggested a massage. The massage was wonderful and it did seem to help a little. The muscle relaxers really knocked me out but did loosen things up.
Now it is April and I still keep getting the headaches and the neck aches. I take the muscle relaxers from time to time but everything comes right back. My neck is still very tight and sore and it makes a crunching noise when I try to loosen my neck. The headaches usually start low by my neck and creep up to my head.
Ok so here is my question.... What would you do? Would you go back to your doctor, ask for some tests? See a chiropractor? Or get a massage and see if that helps?
Thank You :)


If i were you the first thing i would do is see if someone could give u a massage. You sound like you need one. If that does not seem to help go see a chiropractor.

It's too bad that there are some real hack chiro's out there that can really do some serious damage to people.

But IMO, there is a signifigant enough percentage of the h/a population that have had good results that it should be explored.

I'd heard horror stories about chiros for years growing up but after an injury wasn't responding to 'normal' treatment, I was 'talked into' seeing a chiropractor. This guy was great, I told him upfront that I had serious reservations about having him touch me and we talked for at least 20 mins. the first time I saw him while he explained what he could AND what he couldn't do.

Long story shorter, he had me back to 95% in 10 days. His adjustments NEVER hurt and never scared me.

I hurt my back water skiiing one summer and he was out of town so I wenet and saw a friend of mine who was a chiro.. He hurt when he adjusted me. Quite a bit actually, and I don't even think he was a BAD one. Maybe just average.

So what I'd suggest is talking to friends, relatives, sttrangers even and see if you can find a reallyh good one who's name is brought up a few times.


Zach016