Headaches and migraines.

Where a neck headache comes from.

The nerves that carry sensation from the top three segments of your neck share a pathway in the brainstem with the nerve that carries sensation from your face and head. Your brain cannot always tell which one is complaining. Irritation at the base of the skull can be felt behind the eye.

The muscles matter too. The small muscles under the back of the skull work constantly to hold your head level. Hold your head forward over a laptop for hours and those muscles never get to rest. Tight muscle plus stiff joints is the recipe for the headache most people get.

A tension-type headache usually feels like a band or a pressure, sits on both sides or at the back, builds through the day, and gets worse after a long stretch at a desk or in the car.

A neck-driven headache is often one-sided, starts at the base of the skull and travels forward, gets worse when you hold your head in one position, and comes with a neck that does not turn evenly. Pressing certain spots in the neck can reproduce it.

Migraines are their own thing.

A true migraine is a neurological event. It tends to be one-sided, throbbing, and bad enough to stop you. Light and sound hurt. You may feel sick. Some people get warning signs first, like flickering vision or a blind spot. Migraines have their own triggers: sleep, hormones, weather, certain foods, and stress.

Chiropractic care does not cure migraines, and nobody should tell you it does. What it can do is deal with the neck problems that sit alongside them. Many people who get migraines also carry a stiff, painful upper neck, and that neck can act as a trigger and make an attack worse or longer. Settling the neck removes one of the things stacking up against you. Dr. Boss will be honest with you about which part of your headache picture he can help with and which part belongs with your physician or a neurologist.

How Dr. Boss works out what is driving yours.

He will ask you to describe the pattern. Where it starts, where it goes, what time of day, how long it lasts, what you have taken and whether it worked. He will ask about your desk, your pillow, your sleep, and how much water you drink, because those change the answer.

Then he examines your neck. He tests how each of the top segments moves, feels the muscles under the skull and along the shoulders, and checks whether pressing a specific spot brings on your familiar headache. That last test is a strong clue. He also screens for the warning signs that mean a headache is not coming from the neck at all.

He then shows you what he found on the 3D spine model, so you can see the joints and nerves involved instead of taking his word for it.

What treatment looks like.

Adjustments to the upper neck restore motion where it has been lost. For a headache that has been coming from a stiff segment for years, that alone can change how often you get them.

Soft tissue work and massage therapy release the muscles under the skull and across the top of the shoulders. Many people feel pressure lift off the head during that work.

Therapeutic exercises are what hold the change. Chin tucks and deep neck strengthening give your head a stable place to sit. Shoulder blade work takes the load off the neck. Ten minutes a day, not one hour a week.

We will also look at what keeps setting it off. Monitor height, phone habits, pillow, hydration, and how long you sit without standing up. If you also have neck pain, the two usually improve together.

What to expect.

Your first visit runs about an hour and ends with a plan and a cost. We take most major plans and self-pay is available. Give us your plan details when you book and we will check your coverage before you arrive.

Keep a simple log of your headaches while you are in care: date, how bad, how long. It is the clearest way to see whether the plan is working, and it beats memory. Dr. Boss will set a point at which you should both be able to see a change. If it is not there, the plan changes.

More reading: how a chiropractor helps with headaches.

Reviewed and approved by Dr. Christopher Boss, DC, Doctor of Chiropractic since 1998 and the treating chiropractor at Boss Chiropractic. Last updated September 11, 2026.

This page is general information, not medical advice. What is right for you depends on your exam. Dr. Boss will tell you straight whether we can help, and where to go if we cannot.