Chiropractic Care for Headaches and Migraines in Denver

You’ve tried everything. More water. More sleep. Different pillows. Over-the-counter pain relievers. The headaches keep coming.

Here’s what most people miss. Chronic headaches aren’t usually a hydration problem. Not a stress problem either. A lot of the time, it’s the neck.

I’m Dr. John Brockway. Been practicing here in Denver for over 15 years. Headache patients are some of the most worn-down people I see walk through the door. Not because the problem is hard to solve. Because nobody looked at the spine first.

Cervical misalignment puts pressure on nerves. Strains the muscles at the base of your skull. Cuts off circulation. Pick one of those and you’ve got a headache. All three together, and you’re reaching for ibuprofen before lunch every day.

What we do: find the structural cause. Then treat it.

Where Do Most Headaches Actually Come From?

People assume headaches start in the head. Most don’t.

Your cervical spine, the neck, is one of the most overlooked headache sources. Vertebrae out of position put pressure on nerves, force surrounding muscles to overwork, and choke off circulation. Any one of those will send pain straight into your head.

Three types I see most in my practice:

• Cervicogenic headaches. Originate in the cervical spine, refer into the head. Pain usually starts at the base of the skull, pushes forward toward the temples or forehead.
• Tension headaches. Spinal misalignment forces the neck and shoulder muscles to overcompensate. They tighten up. That constant strain becomes the band-like pressure most people recognize.
• Occipital neuralgia. Pinched or irritated nerves in the upper neck. Sharp, shooting pain that travels up the back of the head.

Pinched nerves. Strained muscles. Restricted blood flow. All three trace back to the spine. These are mechanical problems. They respond to mechanical treatment.

How to Tell If Your Headache Is Coming From Your Neck

Not every headache is cervicogenic. But the signs point clearly when the neck is involved.

Start with where the pain originates. Cervicogenic headaches begin at the base of the skull. Work forward from there — up toward the forehead, behind one eye, into the temples. They don’t usually start at the front and move back.

Other signs worth paying attention to:

• Worse with neck position. Driving with your head forward, looking down at a phone, sleeping at a bad angle — any of those trigger or intensify it.
• Turning your head makes it worse. Limited range of motion is a strong signal.
• Stays on one side. Cervicogenic pain doesn’t usually switch sides the way migraines sometimes do.
• Shoulder and upper back tightness alongside the headache. That combination points toward the cervical spine.

First evaluation, those are exactly what I look for. History, posture, how you’re loading your cervical spine, range of motion. That picture tells me where the problem is living.

Neck involvement means we have something to work with.

Can a Chiropractor Help With Headaches and Migraines?

Yes. Tension headaches and cervicogenic headaches especially. The cause is structural, so structural treatment gets results.

Migraines are different. Neurological condition, not purely mechanical. But there’s a physical component to a lot of migraine patterns that doesn’t get addressed. Neck tension. Upper back tightness. Spinal stress. These are known migraine contributors. Work through them and patients often see fewer attacks, less intensity, shorter duration.

The research supports this. Peer-reviewed studies show spinal manipulation can reduce migraine frequency and intensity. Not a cure. A meaningful part of a broader management approach.

For anyone wanting to dig into the evidence, the American Migraine Foundation has a useful breakdown of complementary care options at americanmigrainefoundation.org.

Bottom line: if your headaches have any cervical component, chiropractic care should be on your list.

What Dr. Brockway Does for Headache Patients

Starts with an evaluation. Every time. I need to understand the headache type, the pattern, what’s driving it structurally before anything else happens.

We refer out for imaging before adjustments begin. Seeing the cervical spine on film tells me how to adjust and, just as importantly, what to avoid.

Once we have that picture, treatment typically covers:

• Cervical adjustments. Targeted work to restore joint mobility and take pressure off irritated nerves. Controlled, not aggressive.
• Soft tissue work. Suboccipital muscles, upper trapezius, shoulders. These are the structures most tangled up in headache patterns, and they respond well to hands-on care.
• Posture and ergonomic guidance. A lot of headache patterns trace back to how people sit, sleep, and hold their phones. We address the habits that are feeding the problem.

First visit note: evaluation only, about 30 minutes. No adjustment until imaging is reviewed. If someone’s in significant pain at that first visit, I may do some soft tissue care for relief. The adjustment waits until I know what I’m working with.

What About Migraines Specifically?

Migraines aren’t just bad headaches. Neurological event. Throbbing, usually one side. Light and sound sensitivity. Nausea for a lot of people. Some get an aura first — visual disturbances, tingling, brief speech changes.

Chiropractic doesn’t treat migraine neurology. What it does treat is the physical trigger load.

Neck tension and upper back tightness are among the most common physical migraine contributors. Cervical nerve irritation lowers the threshold for an attack. Reduce that load and the attacks come less often. Less severe. Sometimes shorter.

Not a one-visit fix. Migraine patients need consistent care over weeks before the pattern shifts. Plenty of my patients use chiropractic alongside their neurologist’s recommendations. That’s a smart approach. Goal is cutting your overall burden, not replacing whoever else is on your team.

Been managing migraines for years and never had the cervical spine looked at? Worth doing. There may be a piece that’s been missed.

Can a Chiropractic Adjustment Cause a Headache?

Yes. Happens sometimes. Worth knowing going in.

Mild, temporary headache in the first 24 hours after an adjustment is a known response. Not a sign something went wrong.

What’s happening: muscles and ligaments around the adjusted joints have to adapt. If those structures have been locked in one position for months or years, releasing them causes some temporary soreness. Sometimes a dull headache while everything settles. Soreness after a hard workout is the closest comparison.

Post-adjustment blood flow to the neck and head can also create brief pressure.

What I tell patients: drink extra water. Rest if you can after your appointment. Mild discomfort clears up within a day. Anything severe or lasting, call us.

Yes, the thing treating your headaches can occasionally cause a mild one first. Most patients move through it fast. The overall trajectory is improvement.

How Often Should You Get Adjusted for Headaches?

Depends on severity and what we find.

Multiple headaches per week with clear cervical involvement — more frequent visits early. Initial phase is about making structural progress. Reduce the misalignment, calm the irritated tissues, reset the pattern. Two to three visits a week for the first few weeks is common.

As things improve, we scale back. Maintenance might be once or twice a month. Some patients stabilize and only come in when they feel the headaches starting to creep back.

More than twice a week? That’s the threshold where something needs to change. Fifteen or more headache days a month is chronic migraine territory. Not normal. Not something to just manage indefinitely with medication.

Overusing OTC pain relievers is a real trap. More than two days a week regularly, and the medication itself starts triggering headaches. Medication-overuse headache is its own cycle. Breaking out of it is something a structured care plan can help with.

WARNING: WHEN TO SEEK IMMEDIATE MEDICAL ATTENTION These symptoms require emergency evaluation — not a chiropractic visit: • Sudden, severe headache that hits maximum intensity within minutes • Headache with fever, stiff neck, or confusion • Vision changes, slurred speech, or weakness on one side of the body • Headache following head trauma or a fall • Pattern that worsens progressively over days or weeks • New headaches after age 50 with no prior history Any of these — call 911 or go to the nearest emergency room.

What to Expect at Your First Visit for Headaches

Evaluation. About 30 minutes.

I go through your history. How long, how often, what triggers them, what you’ve tried. Check cervical range of motion. Look at posture. Assess how the spine is loaded under normal movement.

Imaging gets referred out before adjustments start. X-rays show me the structure of your cervical spine — where things are sitting, where there’s stress. Bring prior imaging if you have it.

Significant pain at the first visit, I may do soft tissue work for some relief. The adjustment itself waits until imaging is reviewed. That’s not a technicality. It’s how I make sure I’m treating your spine correctly.

First visit goal: understand what’s actually driving the problem. From there, we build the plan.

Headache and Migraine Relief in Denver — Serving the Cherry Creek Area

Glendale Chiropractic is at 425 S. Cherry St., Suite 307. Right off I-25 and Colorado Blvd. Easy to reach from Glendale, Denver, Cherry Creek, Capitol Hill, the Highlands, Park Hill, Lakewood, and Aurora.

15-plus years in practice. 145 Google reviews, 5.00 stars. Most major Colorado insurance plans accepted.

Hours: Monday through Thursday, 9:00 AM to 12:30 PM and 2:30 to 6:00 PM. Closed Friday through Sunday.

Chronic headaches or migraines and the cervical spine has never been evaluated? That’s the starting point. Call 720-889-1659 to get on the schedule.