A headache is not a disease — it is an “alarm” signal

When a fire alarm goes off, do you try to silence the sound, or do you look for the fire?

Author: Dr. Elfana Suleymanova Medically reviewed

Picture the situation: a company’s security post receives an alarm that the permitted temperature has been exceeded in one of the buildings. How should one respond — try to switch off the unpleasant noise, or grab a fire extinguisher and run to where the fire may be breaking out? The same applies to headaches.

The essence of osteopathic treatment is not to treat the painful area of the head, but to seek out and find the functional disorders in any area of the body that are causing the pain.

1

The osteopathic explanation of migraine

  • The cause of migraine is functional disorders located in various areas — in the head itself (of vascular, inflammatory or other origin), as well as in other organs and systems.
  • In most cases these disorders are mechanical in nature — the headaches are the result of displacement of bones (usually as a result of injuries) or of internal organs.
2

Advantages of the osteopathic approach

  • Finding the cause. During osteopathic diagnosis, the whole body is “scanned” — until the cause is identified.
  • Treatment without pills. It frees you from dependence on painkillers.
  • Short duration. The procedure is based on the body’s principle of self-regulation — sometimes 1–3 sessions are enough.

We look not at where the pain is, but at where it comes from.
— Dr. Elfana Suleymanova, Center Director · Internist and osteopathic physician

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