I read a statistic recently that about 10% of school-aged children and 15-27% of teens experience headaches on a regular basis. That is not okay. Nobody should suffer from headaches and especially not children.
Below are a few things to consider to help prevent headaches for both adults and children.
- Proper hydration – Make sure to properly hydrate. This is especially true when the weather is still warm and there are a lot of outdoor activities. Encourage your child to drink more fresh filtered water and make it easier for him or her to do so by providing a filled water bottle
- Diet – Eating regularly will go a long way in feeling and functioning at your best. Skipping meals can cause a drop in blood sugar leading to fatigue and headaches. It is very important to make sure your child is eating regular meals consisting of fresh fruit, vegetables, and good lean proteins
- Sleep – Getting proper sleep is vitally important for a growing body. Typically, middle and high school students need between 10 and 12 hours of sleep a night to encourage healing, growth and feelings of being well-rested. Not getting enough high quality sleep can be a cause of headaches
- Stress – Increased stress, or rather, a body’s response to stress can be a major cause of headaches. If your child is experiencing a lot of day-to-day stress, including “text neck” and computer device stress; try to schedule some down time to allow for a bit of “decompression”
- Vision Problems – If your child is complaining of frequent headaches, it is probably a good idea to get a vision check. Also, moving to the front of the class may be a good idea to avoid eye strain
The majority of headaches in children are not a cause for alarm. There are, however, some instances which may require a little more exploration. If your child’s headaches have become more frequent or severe, if he or she wakes up in the morning or the middle of the night from pain, or if the headache causes vomiting, it’s best to have your child evaluated by your doctor.
Fortunately, most headaches are caused by muscular contractions in the cervical spine (neck) and head and relatively easy to correct. This problem can be brought on by any of the causative agents listed above or by head and neck trauma, accidents, playing sports, or a multitude of other “normal” daily life events. This can include “text neck” and computer device stress. We see a lot of this at Ten Oaks Health and Wellness in Glenelg and around town throughout Western Howard County. Even carrying a heavy book bag can cause muscle tightness and imbalance that can lead to a headache.
Increasingly, people are turning to safe and effective Chiropractic treatments to help correct the cause of headaches. Doctors of Chiropractic specialize in correcting spinal structure and posture to relieve stress on the nervous system, muscles, and ligaments. Once proper structural posture is restored and some reasonable lifestyle modifications are addressed, your child can move along functioning normally and pain free.