Jordan Loewenstein, D.C. | La Jolla Chiropractor
Most headaches that walk into my office are not “just stress.” A good share start in the neck, and those are the ones I can do something about. This is the long version of my headache page: the headache types I see most in UTC and La Jolla, how to tell them apart, what a first visit looks like, and what the research actually says.
If you’ve tried everything for your headaches — medications, rest, avoiding triggers — but never had your neck evaluated, you may be missing the root cause.
Headaches are one of the most common conditions treated at this practice. Most patients arrive having managed symptoms for years without understanding why they keep coming back. A thorough cervical spine evaluation often reveals the answer.
Each headache type has a distinct pattern, cause, and treatment approach. Select the description that most closely matches your experience.
The upper nerves in your neck share a relay station in your brainstem with the nerves responsible for headache pain. When cervical joints are restricted or misaligned, this relay station becomes overactivated — triggering or amplifying headaches.
A thorough initial evaluation, not assembly-line care. Here is exactly what happens at your first appointment.
The strongest evidence for spinal manipulation is in cervicogenic headache, the kind that starts in the neck. Trials comparing manipulation with sham treatment or with medication alone have found meaningful reductions in headache frequency and intensity, and the effect holds up when manipulation is combined with exercise. For tension-type headache the evidence is more mixed: soft tissue work and exercise help, manipulation on its own helps some people, and the best results come from treating the neck and the habits together.
For migraine, chiropractic care is not a cure and I do not present it as one. Several trials suggest that treating the neck can reduce how often attacks happen for people whose migraines are triggered by neck pain, and that is the role I play alongside your physician. Where the research is clearest is on what not to do: imaging is not needed for the usual headache patterns, and daily painkiller use beyond two or three days a week makes headaches worse over time.
The pattern I see most is the engineer or graduate student with a stiff upper neck, tight upper traps and a headache that creeps in by mid afternoon. Next is the parent carrying a child on one hip and looking down at a phone. Migraine runs in families and shows up in every job. Post-traumatic headache follows the crash by a day or two and is covered on my car accident pages.
A headache visit starts with the neck: range of motion, palpation of the upper cervical joints and the muscles at the base of the skull, and a check of whether pressing those spots reproduces your headache. If it does, the neck is at least part of the problem.
Same-visit treatment is heat and e-stim to settle the upper traps and suboccipitals, soft tissue work on those muscles, and an adjustment or mobilization of the stiff upper neck and upper back segments when the exam supports it.
Two or three home exercises, usually chin tucks, upper back extension and a desk setup change, are what keep the headaches from coming back. Cervicogenic and tension headaches usually ease over three to six weeks at once or twice a week; migraine is managed with your physician, and I can help reduce the neck triggers.
Ready to get it looked at? How I treat this at my UTC San Diego office, or book online.
Can a chiropractor help with headaches?
Yes, for headaches that come from the neck (cervicogenic) and most tension-type headaches, and as a way to reduce neck-related triggers in some migraine patients. Headaches with red flags or a neurological cause need medical evaluation first.
How do I know if my headache is coming from my neck?
It usually starts on one side at the base of the skull, comes with a stiff neck, gets worse with neck positions or a long day at a screen, and can be reproduced by pressing on the upper neck joints and muscles.
When is a headache an emergency?
A sudden “worst headache of my life,” headache with fever and a stiff neck, after a head injury, with weakness, confusion, vision loss or slurred speech, or a brand new headache pattern after 50. Those go to the ER.
How many visits for headaches?
Cervicogenic and tension-type headaches usually improve over three to six weeks at once or twice a week. The home exercises and desk changes matter as much as the visits.
Dr. Loewenstein diagnoses the actual source of your pain before treating it — soft tissue work, adjustment, and rehab in one visit. Most major insurance accepted, no packages or contracts.
Send a text to book a visit or ask a question.
(858) 558-3111Tap the number on your phone to open Messages, or type it into your texting app.