Yes, Full Swing Healthcare in Jacksonville regularly treats headaches and migraines with dry needling, targeting the specific muscles at the base of your skull and neck that cause most tension and cervicogenic headaches. Dr. Cody Muren, DC and certified acupuncturist, assesses your pattern at the first visit and chooses the right approach for you.
Where Most Headaches Actually Come From
Most people reach for Advil without ever asking what tissue is generating the pain. The answer is usually three muscle groups:
- Suboccipital muscles: sit right at the base of the skull. Trigger points here refer pain in a band over the top of the head, producing exactly what most people call a tension headache.
- Upper trapezius: when knotted, refers pain up into the side of the head and temple.
- Sternocleidomastoid (SCM): refers into the forehead and behind the eye, mimicking migraine or sinus pressure.
If you spend hours at a desk with your head pushed forward, and most of us do, these muscles become chronically tight. The trigger points reload constantly from daily posture. Medication manages the headache. Dry needling addresses the tissue generating it.
What Dry Needling Actually Does
A thin monofilament needle is inserted directly into an active trigger point. The muscle responds with a brief twitch, the tension releases, and blood flow to the area improves. For the suboccipitals and upper trapezius, this often produces immediate pressure relief. Most headache patients notice a reduction in frequency within the first one to two sessions.
Results vary, some patients have more complex drivers and need additional sessions or a combined approach. But for straightforward cervicogenic headache presentations, dry needling the right muscles produces changes that are hard to match with anything else.
When Acupuncture Is the Better Fit
Dry needling is a structural approach, it targets specific muscles. For headaches with a strong stress component, hormonal triggers, or true migraines with an autonomic pattern, acupuncture often works better. Dr. Muren holds both chiropractic and acupuncture certifications, so he can use either tool, or both, depending on what your headache pattern actually calls for. You don’t need to figure this out ahead of time; he’ll assess it at your first visit.
How to Get Started
Call us at (904) 539-3352 or book online. We’re at 13770 Beach Blvd #4, Jacksonville, FL 32224, convenient for patients coming from Jacksonville Beach, Neptune Beach, Atlantic Beach, and Ponte Vedra Beach. The first visit includes a full exam so we can confirm exactly which muscles are driving your headaches before we touch a needle.