Tension Headaches

Do you suffer from headaches? While this is about tension headaches specifically, it does apply to other headaches as well, in my opinion.

A variety of studies have connected anger with headaches. What specifically has been connected is suppressed anger. This is when an event in your life should cause anger, but your reaction is not one of anger at all.

In a study in Applied Psychophysiology and Biofeedback in 1997,
"tension headache sufferers were found to have significantly more anger held inward than nonpain controls." (PMID: 9428970) Another study in the journal Headache by Hatch and Schoenfeld et. al, found that tension headache sufferers "showed significantly greater levels of suppressed anger" than non-headache controls. Meanwhile, the amount of expressed anger was similar for both groups. (PMID: 1860788)

Two things most likely are taking place here. For one, the energy that is to be expressed in the anger is not recognized and vented. Instead of exploding outward then, there is more of an implosion. In the book Dynamic Health, the chiropractor M.T. Morter talks about this tendency for unexpressed emotions to cause an implosion that results in pain.

The second factor is the physical process itself. The process is clenching one's jaw, and biting down on the anger. This holding back is a source of constant muscle tension, which can lead to pain and fatigue. This is especially true of headaches in the temporal region (the side of your head, between the eye and the ear).

The best way to deal with tension headaches is to become aware. Might there be something you are mad about or someone you are mad at? Look carefully. Once you have awareness, this will help a great deal. On the other hand, you may know full well who you are pissed at or what you are mad about. Also, have perspective and recognize that some of your anger might be irrational and too intense for the situation.

To deal with this anger, physical exertion is a must. If you play a sport and get some exercise sometimes, do not neglect this! In fact, make sure that you get exercise on those days when you feel tension headaches are likely. If you do not play a sport and do not like to exercise, then just hit your bed and yell into a pillow. This will help your muscular system get some of that stuck energy out - allowing you to have a small explosion instead of a big implosion. I consider it like a controlled burn, when firemen prevent a huge forest fire by burning several small fires.

Naturally, the best thing is to simply express your anger appropriately - at the appropriate time to the appropriate person. For most of us, this is not easy. And in many situations, in fact, it is impossible (being mad at one's boss or a professor would be examples).

These methods are always recommended and should help to some degree. If you need more help, I specialize in a form of chiropractic (called B.E.S.T.) that identifies and helps to neutralize the stresses and emotions that are directly related to your condition.

To learn more about me, visit my website at www.pinkertonchiropractic.com

To learn more about B.E.S.T. and Dr. Morter, visit the Morter Health System website at www.morter.com

Back Pain

Have you ever experienced the following?

You do a lot of work, say cleaning, for example. And at the end of the day, you feel good, but tired. You go to sleep that night, and wake up in the morning and everything is fine.

A few weeks later, you do a very similar amount of work. But this time, you feel tight as you work, and you start to get sore. By the end of the day, your back aches. You are glad to lie down to get rest, but you wonder how it happened. Then the next day, you wake up and you are still sore. In fact, you have to take the day off or curtail your activities to keep the soreness manageable.

Why did your back hurt the one time but not the other? Most often, we look for a physical reason. We think things like, "I guess I worked too hard today." Or, "Well, today I probably didn’t take enough breaks."


We tend to look for the cause of our pain in this way. But your body is not just reacting to the stress you put it under physically. It is also reacting to the stress you put it under mentally and emotionally.

Did you know that every thought you have creates a physical reaction in your body? Your heart rate, your muscles, your blood flow, adrenaline production…all of this can change in reaction to your thoughts. Those thoughts associated with strong emotions will cause the greatest change.

In B.E.S.T. chiropractic, we call this fighting tigers. Due to the reaction to some stress, your physiology is acting as if you were fighting a tiger. Many times, when we are sore after we exert ourselves in a typical way, we were fighting tigers to some degree, in addition to the actual physical work. In such cases, we are, in effect, forcing our body to do double duty.

In these cases, the stress and our body's reaction is the cause of our soreness. The way to get over lingering aches and pains is to discover, identify and neutralize the stress that existed at the time the “injury” occurred. The best and quickest way to do this, in my experience, is with the Bio Energetic Synchronization Technique (B.E.S.T.), an advanced form of chiropractic treatment.

There are many ways to prevent this from happening in the first place. One is to become aware of when you are under stress. Are your shoulders raised? Is your heart beating faster than usual? Do you feel tense, on edge, or stiff? Once recognized, it is essential not to freeze up and hold your breath. This is an extremely common reaction to stress. While it helps us to feel in control, it, in effect, locks the stress in our system. This is when we suddenly get pain and feel sore.

Keep your body, your jaw, your shoulders and your eyes moving. And continue to breathe. In fact, make an effort to breathe more deeply than usual. You may be surprised at the difference this makes.

To learn more about me, visit my website at www.pinkertonchiropractic.com

To learn more about B.E.S.T., visit morter.com

Neck Pain

Naturally, you can hurt your neck in a car accident or other major trauma. And everything makes sense. Your head was thrown forward and you were really hurt. But what about those other times? Like when you wake up and your neck hurts. Typically, the thought there is, "I slept wrong." I hear this often.

When we sleep, we are supposed to be relaxed. When muscles are relaxed, our body can be in virtually any position comfortably. However, when there is active stress in our mind as we go to sleep, our muscles react to this tension by tensing. Just as we are tense during the day, we can be tense during the night, EVEN AS WE SLEEP!

If you are someone who remembers your dreams, there are probably those dreams that you can recall that were extremely stressful. The type of dream where you wake up with your heart racing, so glad that whatever you were dreaming of really wasn't happening. But while you were dreaming, it was happening, as far as your body was concerned. The racing heart, the adrenaline pumping, the muscles tensing...this was your body's experience for at least part (perhaps even for most, or all) of the night. No wonder we can so easily wake up sore!

It is very important for us to have a practice or a ritual that helps us clear tension before going to sleep. In the book Dynamic Health by Dr. M.T. Morter Jr., he gives an exercise that can be done prior to bed, which does just this. I highly recommend this book to anyone who wants to deepen their understanding of the relationship between thoughts, emotions, and health. The exercise recommended in the book is a very specific way to neutralize stress before bed.

While you will need to get the book or come to my office to learn the specifics, it is critical that you do not fall asleep in a state of tension. So, here is a little practice that will be of great benefit to you. Think over what has happened in your day, and forgive yourself, your co-workers, friends, and even politicians and people on the news, for all of your and their transgressions. If you had any particularly intense experiences (being accosted on the street, having a fight with your partner, etc.) then get some exercise in to burn off some of that adrenaline. Forgiveness is very powerful and healing.

Even by just doing this, you should find yourself feeling more relaxed and settled, and with that, you can hopefully get a night's sleep that rests and rejuvenates you, instead of stressing and straining your musculoskeletal system!

As I said before, the exercise (and, in fact, much of my understanding of health), comes from Dr. M.T. Morter Jr., a great chiropractor and healer.

To learn more about me, please visit my website at www.pinkertonchiropractic.com

You can visit Dr. Morter's site at www.morter.com