Welcome to Bluegrass Doctors of Physical Therapy, PLLC Blog! In this blog we will review many common conditions and symptoms related to muskuloskeltal pain and dysfunction. Every few weeks will be a new topic!

Todays blog is about one of the many headache conditions we treat: Migraine Headaches.

Migraine headaches often begin in childhood, adolescence or early adulthood. Migraines may progress through four stages, including prodrome, aura, headache and postdrome, though you may not experience all the stages.

Prodrome

One or two days before a migraine, you may notice subtle changes that signify an oncoming migraine, including:

Constipation

Depression

Food cravings

Hyperactivity

Irritability

Neck stiffness

Uncontrollable yawning

Aura

Aura may occur before or during migraine headaches. Auras are nervous system symptoms that are usually visual disturbances, such as flashes of light. Sometimes auras can also be touching sensations (sensory), movement (motor) or speech (verbal) disturbances. Most people experience migraine headaches without aura. Each of these symptoms usually begins gradually, builds up over several minutes, and then commonly lasts for 20 to 60 minutes. Examples of aura include:

Visual phenomena, such as seeing various shapes, bright spots or flashes of light

Vision loss

Pins and needles sensations in an arm or leg

Speech or language problems (aphasia)

Less commonly, an aura may be associated with limb weakness (hemiplegic migraine).

Attack

When untreated, a migraine usually lasts from four to 72 hours, but the frequency with which headaches occur varies from person to person. You may have migraines several times a month or much less often. During a migraine, you may experience the following symptoms:

Pain on one side or both sides of your head

Pain that has a pulsating, throbbing quality

Sensitivity to light, sounds and sometimes smells

Nausea and vomiting

Blurred vision

Lightheadedness, sometimes followed by fainting

Postdrome

The final phase, known as postdrome, occurs after a migraine attack. During this time you may feel drained and washed out, though some people report feeling mildly euphoric.

- Mayo clinic website**