Chiropractic Care for Headaches and Migraines in Grand Rapids: What to Know Before You Go
Updated: Sep 25
Headaches are one of those things people tend to normalize. They take something for it, they wait it out, they adjust their day around it — and eventually the headache becomes a recurring part of life rather than something they expect to get ahead of.
For many people in the Grand Rapids and Kentwood area, that pattern continues for months or years before they start looking for something different. This post is for those people.
I want to give you an honest picture of what chiropractic care has to do with headaches, what we actually evaluate at The Wellness Way Grand Rapids, and when it is and is not a reasonable place to start. I will also be straightforward about what we cannot promise — because the worst thing I can do for someone dealing with real, disruptive head pain is set expectations that do not match what conservative chiropractic care is actually capable of.
The Connection Between the Cervical Spine and Headaches
Not all headaches have the same origin, and understanding the connection between the neck and headaches specifically is worth explaining before anything else.
The cervical spine — the seven vertebrae that make up the neck — is one of the most mechanically complex and frequently stressed areas of the body. It supports the weight of the head, which in a neutral position weighs roughly ten to twelve pounds but places significantly more load on the cervical structures as it moves forward out of alignment, as it does during most seated and screen-based activities.
The muscles, joints, and nerve structures of the cervical spine have a direct anatomical relationship with the head. Several of the nerves that supply sensation to the scalp, face, and base of the skull originate from the upper cervical spine. When the joints of the upper neck are restricted or under sustained physical stress, the surrounding muscles are consistently tense, or movement patterns in the cervical spine are altered over time, the structures that influence how the head feels can be affected in ways that contribute to recurring headache patterns.
This is the basis for what is broadly referred to as cervicogenic headache — a headache pattern that originates from the cervical spine or surrounding structures rather than from the head itself. It is one of the more common headache patterns that responds to manual care, and it is one of the things a chiropractic evaluation specifically looks for.
Types of Headaches — And Where Chiropractic Fits
Headaches are not a single thing. Understanding the different patterns matters for understanding when chiropractic evaluation makes sense and when it does not.
Tension-Type Headaches
Tension-type headaches are the most common headache pattern in the general population. They typically present as a dull, pressing, or tightening sensation — often described as a band around the head — and are frequently associated with neck stiffness, upper back tension, and postural stress.
This pattern has one of the clearest connections to cervical spine function. Restricted joint motion in the neck, sustained muscle tension in the upper back and shoulders, and the postural load of prolonged sitting or screen time are all common contributors. Chiropractic evaluation tends to be a reasonable starting point for people whose tension headaches are frequent, are associated with neck stiffness or upper back tension, or seem to worsen with prolonged sitting and desk work.
Cervicogenic Headaches
Cervicogenic headaches originate from structures in the cervical spine — joints, muscles, or nerves in the neck — and refer pain into the head. They often begin at the base of the skull or the back of the neck and travel forward. They are typically one-sided, are frequently aggravated by neck movement or sustained neck positions, and may be accompanied by restricted range of motion in the cervical spine.
This is the headache pattern most directly addressed by chiropractic evaluation and care. When joint restriction in the upper cervical spine is contributing to the headache pattern, addressing that restriction is often a meaningful part of changing how frequently and intensely those headaches occur.
Migraines
Migraines are a distinct neurological condition characterized by moderate to severe head pain — often one-sided, often throbbing or pulsating — that may be accompanied by nausea, light sensitivity, sound sensitivity, and in some cases visual disturbances before the headache begins.
The relationship between migraines and chiropractic care is more nuanced than it is for tension-type and cervicogenic headaches, and I want to be straightforward about that. Chiropractic care does not treat migraines as a neurological condition. What it can evaluate and address is whether cervical spine restriction and physical stress in the neck region are contributing to the frequency or intensity of migraine episodes for a specific individual.
For some people, cervical spine tension and restriction appear to be a meaningful trigger or contributor. For others, the primary drivers are hormonal, neurological, or dietary in nature — areas where chiropractic care is not the appropriate lead intervention. A good chiropractic evaluation will help clarify which picture applies to you, and will be honest about when the care I can provide is a reasonable piece of the puzzle versus when someone else needs to be more centrally involved in your care.
Headaches With a Clear Medical Cause
There are headache patterns that warrant medical evaluation rather than — or before — chiropractic care. A sudden, severe headache that is unlike any you have experienced before, headaches accompanied by fever, stiff neck, confusion, vision changes, or neurological symptoms, and headaches that are progressively worsening without any periods of relief are all presentations that should be evaluated by a physician promptly.
A good chiropractor screens for these patterns at the first visit and refers appropriately when they are present. If any of those descriptions match what you are experiencing, contact your primary care provider rather than scheduling a chiropractic visit.
What Physical Stress Has to Do With Headaches
At The Wellness Way Grand Rapids, we think about health through the lens of three interconnected types of stress: physical, chemical, and emotional. Headaches are one of the areas where this framework is particularly relevant, because most people dealing with chronic or recurring head pain are experiencing contributors from more than one of those categories.
Physical stress — including restricted joint motion in the cervical spine, muscle tension in the neck and upper back, postural load from sustained seated or screen-based positions, and the cumulative effect of previous injuries — is what a chiropractic evaluation specifically addresses.
Chemical stress — including dietary patterns, hydration, hormonal fluctuations, and what the body is being exposed to — can influence headache frequency and intensity in ways that go beyond what spinal adjusting alone addresses. At The Wellness Way Grand Rapids, whole-body wellness support that looks at how nutrition and lifestyle may be contributing is available alongside chiropractic care when it is relevant to the picture.
Emotional stress — the sustained tension that comes from the demands of daily life, work, relationships, and chronic worry — has a direct effect on how the muscles of the neck and shoulders hold tension and how the body adapts over time. This is not separate from physical stress. It shapes it.
Understanding which of these categories is most prominently contributing to your headache pattern is part of what an individualized evaluation looks at.
What I Actually Evaluate When Someone Comes In With Headaches
When a patient comes into The Wellness Way Grand Rapids describing recurring headaches or migraines, the evaluation begins before any hands-on care is considered.
A Thorough History
The first thing I do is listen. I want to understand where the headaches are located, what they feel like, how frequently they occur, how long they last, what seems to trigger or worsen them, and what makes them better. I want to know whether they are associated with neck stiffness, whether they seem related to posture or screen time, and whether anything has changed in your life around the time they started or increased in frequency.
That history shapes everything that follows. A person whose headaches are clearly tied to prolonged sitting and neck stiffness presents very differently from someone whose headaches occur cyclically, are preceded by visual changes, and are debilitating for multiple days at a time. Both deserve a thorough evaluation — but the evaluation points toward different conclusions.
Cervical Spine and Upper Back Assessment
I evaluate the joints of the cervical spine — particularly the upper cervical region — for restriction and altered motion. The sub-occipital muscles at the base of the skull, the upper trapezius, and the muscles of the posterior neck and upper back are evaluated for tension and restriction. I assess range of motion in the neck and identify where movement is limited or asymmetrical.
For people whose headaches have a cervicogenic component, joint restriction in the upper cervical spine is often a consistent finding. Addressing that restriction is a meaningful part of care.
Postural Assessment
How you carry your head in relation to your shoulders tells me a significant amount about the sustained postural load your cervical spine is managing. Forward head posture — the pattern where the head is carried in front of the shoulders rather than balanced over them — dramatically increases the effective weight the cervical structures are supporting and is one of the most common postural contributors to cervicogenic headaches and neck tension.
A Plain-Language Explanation of Findings
After the evaluation, I explain what I found in plain language and give you an honest picture of whether chiropractic care is a reasonable option for your specific headache pattern. If it is, I explain what care would look like. If the pattern you are describing is better addressed by another type of provider — a neurologist for complex migraine management, for example — I will tell you that and point you in the right direction.
A Patient's Experience Worth Sharing
One of the reviews on our website comes from Tiffany, a patient at The Wellness Way Grand Rapids. She called after being on day nine of a migraine episode and asked if we could fit her in the same day. An hour after the appointment, she reported that the pain had come down from a level eight or nine to nearly zero — and noted that this was not the first time care here had made a meaningful difference during a migraine episode.
I want to be careful about how I share this, because Tiffany's experience is hers and I cannot represent it as typical or guaranteed. What I can say is that for some people dealing with recurring headaches and migraines, addressing physical stress in the cervical spine makes a meaningful difference in how frequently and intensely those episodes occur. For others it is a smaller piece of a more complex picture. A thorough evaluation is the only way to understand which situation applies to you.
What Tiffany's story reflects is the kind of care this office is built around — responsive, individualized, and focused on what the person in front of me actually needs. When someone calls in significant pain and asks to be seen, that conversation happens.
What Conservative Chiropractic Care for Headaches Looks Like at Our Office
At The Wellness Way Grand Rapids, care for headache patterns related to cervical spine function is conservative, gentle, and adjusted over time based on how the body responds.
It typically involves chiropractic adjustments to the joints of the cervical spine and upper thoracic region that have been identified as restricted during the evaluation. For people whose headaches have a significant postural component, care may also address the mid-back and shoulder region, which influences how the neck is positioned and loaded over time.
Where whole-body stress — including dietary, hormonal, or lifestyle factors — appears to be contributing alongside the physical component, that is a conversation worth having as part of a broader care plan.
Care is not about continuing to schedule visits indefinitely. If you are responding well, that shapes how we move forward. If the pattern is not changing the way either of us hoped, we reassess honestly rather than continuing the same approach.
There are no long-term contracts, and all recommendations are explained before care begins.
A Note on Headaches That Have Become Part of Daily Life
One of the most consistent things I hear from people who come in with headache concerns is that they did not realize how much they had simply adapted to living with them. They had adjusted their schedule, limited their activities, kept medication nearby at all times, and stopped expecting to feel well — all without anyone having looked closely at whether there was something contributing to the pattern that could be addressed.
If headaches have become a normal part of your week, that is worth examining rather than accepting. Not because chiropractic is guaranteed to change it — but because understanding what is contributing is the first step toward making an informed decision about what to do next.
Headaches and Migraines in Grand Rapids — Where to Start
If you are dealing with recurring headaches or migraines in the Grand Rapids or Kentwood area and want to explore whether chiropractic evaluation makes sense for your situation, The Wellness Way Grand Rapids is a good place to start that conversation.
The first visit begins with listening. Dr. Gates evaluates what may be contributing to your headache pattern, explains what he finds, and gives you an honest picture of whether chiropractic care is appropriate for your specific situation.
There is no commitment required to start the conversation.
This post is written for educational purposes and does not constitute medical advice. If you are experiencing severe or unusual headache symptoms, please contact your primary care provider promptly.
Dr. Gates Maier, DC | The Wellness Way Grand Rapids | 3682 29th St SE, Suite A, Kentwood, MI 49512 | Michigan Chiropractic License #2301010994 | NPI #1841887866