Chiropractic Care and Significant Improvement in Long-Standing Migraine

Migraine headaches can be far more disabling than an ordinary headache, sometimes bringing severe pain, sensitivity to light and sound, nausea, vomiting and difficulty functioning normally. A case report published in Cureus on October 2, 2026, described a 46-year-old woman with a 10-year history of migraine who had developed a new pattern of daily headaches. Her condition became severe enough that she was hospitalized for two nights with a prolonged migraine attack, vomiting and blurred vision.

Her headaches included sharp pain behind the left eye, throbbing pain at the top of her head and pressure across the forehead, along with strong sensitivity to light and sound. After leaving the hospital, she also experienced a period of confusion, memory difficulty, changes in color perception, intermittent speech difficulty and weakness in her arms and hands. She remained under the care of her medical team and was taking migraine medications when she later sought chiropractic care.

The chiropractic examination found several areas of concern, including a tilted head, uneven shoulder height, painful neck movement, unequal weight distribution and weakness in one arm during testing. X-rays showed straightening and loss of the normal cervical curve, along with mild degenerative changes in the lower neck. The chiropractic evaluation also identified an upper cervical subluxation. Because the type of care she sought was unavailable where she lived, she traveled from Sri Lanka to Singapore and received a concentrated course of chiropractic care.

During the first six days, she received 10 chiropractic visits, generally twice a day. By the end of that intensive period, several examination findings had improved. Her shoulder and head position had become more balanced, weight distribution was nearly even, arm strength had returned to normal and certain visual tracking findings had also normalized. More importantly to the patient, she reported a reduction in headache pain, improved ability to use her phone and the disappearance of her sensitivity to light and sound.

Approximately four months later, she returned for three additional visits. At that time, she reported that her headaches were about 95% improved compared with when she began care. She also reported improvement in brain fog and difficulty concentrating, as well as improvement in the color-vision changes she had previously experienced. No adverse reactions or side effects were reported during the period of chiropractic care

This case is interesting because nerves from the upper cervical spine and nerves involved in headache sensation share connections within the nervous system, providing a possible explanation for why improving upper cervical function may influence some headaches. The dramatic reduction in a long-standing and debilitating migraine problem following correction of upper cervical dysfunction and subluxation adds to the growing interest in the relationship between spinal function and migraine headaches and may offer hope for people who continue to suffer from migraines.