We understand that it’s impossible to understand a bad headache or a migraine if haven’t experienced them.
We understand that a headache and a migraine aren’t the same thing.
We understand that the usual course of treatment leaves many people feeling frustrated and helpless.
We understand that if your episodes are frequent, there is that looming ever-present question:
‘Is today the day that I’ll get another one?’
Our patients are keen to find a different solution – especially one that doesn’t just involve medication.
As a headache physio, when you hear about the distress these conditions create for patients, and the limitations it places on their lives, it leaves a big impact.
It also makes it more meaningful and rewarding when you can help!
Adelaide West Headache Clinic has been dedicated to helping headache and migraine sufferers since 2014.
We would love to speak with you to discuss how we can help reduce your pain, your frequency of headaches or migraines, and regain your freedom and quality of life.
Call Adelaide West Headache Clinic today on 8356 1000 and find out how we can help
We allow a full hour for an initial consultation to allow the time to discuss your headache problem.
This time also allows us to complete the safety assessment of your neck before we begin treatment.
At last count, there were less than 50 people in Australia who have completed the invitation-only intensive Certification training to become a Watson Headache® Certified Practitioner.
There are therapists in Adelaide that say that the use the ‘Watson Approach’ but may or may not have been trained by Dean Watson.
Russell is the only practicing physiotherapist in Adelaide that has done the Certification programme.
You can feel reassured that safety is the number one priority.
We routinely and safely test the ligaments of the upper neck.
There is no joint ‘cracking’, therefore avoiding the risk of neck manipulation, however low that risk might be.
Know exactly what is contributing to your headache
After an accurate assessment of your neck, we can give you a guide about your likely outcomes including length of treatment.
Generally, you will see some definite change in some respect of your headaches within five treatment sessions at the most.
The methods that we use have been used to help many thousands of patients over the years, and are highly evolved. They are underpinned by research performed by Dr Watson as part of his PhD.
Know exactly what is contributing to your headache, whether it is your neck or not, and which level of your neck.
Using slow, sustained pressure, we can individually test the joints of the upper neck to find which ones are capable of contributing to your headache
You can know if you neck is involved without guesswork – if the same area of your headache pain is able to be reproduced by testing your neck, and it lessens as that testing is sustained, then it strongly suggests that your neck is relevant and may well be the missing link.
Call us on 8356 1000 and organise a time to speak with a headache physio!
Interested in learning how to help your own headache or migraine?
If you suffer from headaches or migraines, this is the information that you must read so that you can be doing all the right things to help yourself.
This is the same information that we provide to our private patients, everything from practical posture advice to what you need to know about your pillow.
Did you know that regular use of pain relief medication can worsen your headaches?
Read this practical guide and take positive steps to help your headaches and migraines.
Russell Mackenzie and Lachlan Sutherland are amongst a small number of Watson Headache® Certified Practitioners in Adelaide.
Becoming a Certified Practitioner requires moving through three levels of training with Dr Dean Watson, ending with the certification examination.
It guarantees the highest standard of assessment all headache, migraine and other conditions for the role of the upper cervical spine.
Sometimes neck involvement in headache conditions is very clear, like in the case of cervicogenic (neck-related) headache.
In addition, there are many head pain conditions that can involve the upper cervical spine apart from cervicogenic headache.
And of course, the neck isn’t involved in all headaches or migraines.
But it can be an important factor in a surprising number of conditions, including:
This is due to the well-documented role of an extension of the trigeminal nucleus call the trigeminocervical nucleus. This is a pathway for the upper neck to affect any area that the trigeminal nerve receives information from or provides information to.
In cases of dizziness or vertigo, especially once benign paroxysmal positional vertigo and other conditions have been excluded, the cervical spine is often found to be involved. It can be treated using the Watson Headache Approach in a similar way to treating headache or migraine.
If your headache began after a head injury and occurs with dizziness, balance, visual or concentration changes, you may also find our concussion physiotherapy service relevant.
To find out more, simply call us on 8356 1000 and speak with one of our helpful staff to find out if our approach is likely to be for you.
5 Simple Exercises For Headache Relief
Need some simple neck exercises to help with headaches?
This article presents our top 5 exercises plus one stretch that everyone gets shown (but we NEVER use).
