Defying occipital neuralgia in Fort Wayne is something Dr. Emily Staples does on a regular basis. She has helped a number of people in her years of practice to reduce the pain and frequency of pain related to occipital neuralgia.
What is Occipital Neuralgia?
The National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke defines occipital neuralgia as a rare neurological condition that involves shooting, shocking, throbbing, burning, or aching pain and headache that generally starts at the base of the head and spreads along the scalp on one or both sides of the head.
There are two greater occipital nerves - one on each side of the head. There are also two lesser occipital nerves - also one on each side of the head. These nerves send messages to the brain about feeling in the top and back of the head. If any of these nerves becomes inflamed or irritated, that can result in the aforementioned types of pain.
The pain may radiate along the side of the head to the ear or to the front of the head to the eyes as well. The scalp may become extremely sensitive as well, making everyday activities like washing your hair or brushing your hair anywhere from slightly uncomfortable to nearly impossible.
Causes of Occipital Neuralgia in Fort Wayne
Since the root cause of occipital neuralgia is typically related to inflamed or irritated occipital nerves, Atlas Chiropractic of Fort Wayne looks to find the cause of the inflammation or irritation. Many times the inflammation or irritation may be caused by a pinched nerve, which is caused by a subluxation of the bones of the upper cervical spine.
The photo shown here is courtesy of Anatomy Standard and is used under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License as an educational tool only.
In the photo you can see how the atlas bone of the spine connects upwardly to the occipital bone and then downwardly to the axis bone. The combination of these two joints is known as the craniocervical junction and you might notice that the atlas bone is at the center of this entire structure.
Upper Cervical Chiropractic for Occipital Neuralgia
Since the atlas bone is where the rest of the body connects to the occipital bone of the skull, there are many nerves that pass through this part of the body. If the atlas bone is shifted out of place even by a small amount, it can cause a number of issues including pain related to occipital neuralgia and the relatively similar trigeminal neuralgia.
Here at Atlas Chiropractic of Fort Wayne, we determine the exact position of your atlas, correct the position to its more proper and neutral location, and then verify that the procedure of the correction did what we calculated that it would. This focus on the C1, or atlas, bone is known as upper cervical chiropractic. As of the time of this writing, Atlas Chiropractic is the only form of Upper Cervical Chiropractic in Fort Wayne Indiana.
The procedure we use, NUCCA, is extremely gentle and there is no popping, cracking, or snapping of your neck or the vertebrae in your spine. By correcting the position of the atlas bone, the nerves that pass around and through this extremely important bone are then able to communicate properly as well as remove the pressure being applied on them by the bone itself or the adjacent occipital or axis bones. This can help reduce or eliminate the inflammation or irritation of those occipital nerves and thus reduce or eliminate your pain.
If you would like to experience this unique care for occipital neuralgia in Fort Wayne for yourself, give us a call at 260-399-9020 or reserve your complimentary consultation using the link below. We look forward to meeting you soon!
