Still getting migraines, no matter what you’ve tried?
You’ve tried the prescriptions, some with side effects almost as hard to handle as the migraines themselves. You’ve made a list of triggers, kept the dark room ready, and have seen a neurologist—and yet the migraines still keep coming. There may be a piece nobody has looked at: your upper neck.
15 minutes to find out if we can help your migraines.
Sound like you?
Migraines are not just bad headaches, and you already know that. If you live with them you also already know how much they can dictate your life.
See if some of this sound familiar:
- Pain that throbs or pounds, often on one side of your head
- Light, sound, or smells that suddenly become unbearable
- Nausea, or the kind of queasiness that makes it hard to eat or even move
- Visual changes, an aura, or a strange “off” feeling that warns you one is coming
- The fog and exhaustion that linger for a day or more after the pain finally lifts
- Plans canceled, work missed, and the quiet guilt of letting people down again
- The low-grade dread of never quite knowing when the next one will hit
If you recognize yourself here, the question worth asking is why this keeps happening. And that’s where the neck comes in.
↓ Watch: Dr. Jason Gonzales explains the connection between the upper neck and chronic migraines. ↓
The migraine and neck connection
Most people never think to connect their migraines to their neck. But to understand the link, it helps to first understand what a migraine actually is, because it isn’t what most people assume.
A migraine is not a bad headache, and it’s not a sign you didn’t drink enough water. It’s a neurological event and it’s connected to your upper neck. The nerves of your upper neck, the first three cervical nerves, feed into the very same neurological system that drives a migraine. A migraine involves a series of neurological events that add up the experience of pain and understanding that sequence is the key to understanding why your neck may be involved.
What actually happens during a migraine
A migraine attack runs through a chain of events. A trigger sets off changes in the blood vessels surrounding the brain. Those changes activate a network of pain-sensing nerves called the trigeminovascular system. Once activated, these nerves release inflammatory chemicals that cause more blood vessel changes and irritation, a process called neurogenic inflammation. That irritation makes the nerves more and more sensitive, first the nerves around the brain, then the central pathways they feed into. This building sensitivity is what researchers call sensitization, and it’s why a migraine tends to escalate, why light and sound become unbearable, and why the pain can take on a life of its own.
In other words, a migraine isn’t one event. It’s a chain reaction. And once it’s rolling, it’s hard to stop, which is why so much migraine care focuses on catching an attack early or preventing the chain from starting at all.
How your neck is involved in migraines
Here’s the part most people are never told. The nerves of your upper neck, the first three cervical nerves, feed into the very same system that drives a migraine. At the base of your skull, upper cervical nerves and the trigeminal nerve converge in a shared relay station called the trigeminocervical complex. Because they share this junction, they can cross-sensitize each other: irritation from the upper neck can feed into the migraine system and help keep it sensitized.
This is why neck pain is so often part of a migraine, not as a side effect, but as part of the same wiring. Research tracking migraine sufferers through the phases of an attack has found that the cervical, neck-based, part of this system becomes sensitized right alongside the trigeminal part.
The convergence of trigeminal and upper cervical afferents in the trigeminocervical complex facilitates bidirectional communication and cross-sensitization, contributing to the manifestation of headache and the often-associated neck pain in migraine.” Christensen et al., The Journal of Headache and Pain, 2025
To say it another way: the nerves from your head and the nerves from your upper neck meet at the same junction, and they influence each other. When one gets stirred up, it can stir up the other. That shared wiring is why neck pain and migraine so often travel together.
If your upper neck isn’t moving and functioning the way it should, it may be acting as a steady source of input into a system that’s already primed to overreact. That doesn’t mean your neck is the sole cause of your migraines. It means it may be a contributing input that nobody has examined, one that sits in a gap between specialties. Neurologists focus on the brain and the migraine itself; the mechanical function of the top two vertebrae, the C1 and C2, also called the atlas and axis, tends to fall outside where migraine care usually looks.
The bigger picture
The same upper neck region is closely tied to your autonomic nervous system, the automatic side of your body that governs the balance between fight or flight and rest and digest. Many migraine sufferers live with a nervous system stuck in a heightened, reactive state, exactly the kind of state that lowers the threshold for the next attack. When the upper neck isn’t functioning the way it should, it can be one of the things keeping that system from settling. This is the connection we test for, and it’s the reason our approach starts somewhere most migraine care never looks.
What we do differently
If a migraine is a chain reaction in an over-sensitized system, then the goal isn’t to chase each attack after it starts. It’s to find and reduce the inputs that keep that system primed in the first place. For some people, the upper neck is one of those inputs. Here’s how we approach it.
A protocol, not a guess
We don’t assume your neck is involved, and we don’t start care to see what happens. We test first, and we only move forward if the findings point that way. Our workup is built to answer one question: is there a problem in your upper neck that could be feeding your migraine pattern?
- Functional nervous system testing using infrared thermography, to measure how your autonomic nervous system is functioning
- Biomechanical x-rays of the upper neck, to see exactly how the top two vertebrae are positioned
- A radiologist’s report on those images
- A posture assessment, cervical range of motion testing, and relevant orthopedic and neurological tests
- Manual palpation of the upper cervical spine
Only after we’ve gathered that information do we talk about whether an adjustment makes sense for you.
Putting it all together
Thermography, x-rays, and the clinical exam tell us three different things about the same system. When they agree, we have a clear diagnostic picture. When they don’t, we keep looking until we understand what’s actually happening, or rule out upper cervical involvement entirely. Either way, you get a straight answer.
Ready to find out if your upper neck has been the missing piece of your migraine puzzle?
Less interference, not more intervention
When upper cervical chiropractic care is the right fit, the approach is precise rather than repetitive. We’re not adjusting your whole spine on every visit. We’re looking to make a specific adjustment to your C1 or C2, the atlas or axis, that reduces the interference feeding your nervous system. Then we monitor, and we adjust again only when your body shows us it needs us to.
This is different from general chiropractic care. It requires precision and the discipline to stop adjusting when your body is holding and healing. If the upper neck is a contributing input to your migraines, the aim is to quiet that input and let an over-sensitized system settle, not to add one more thing that overstimulates it.
Migraines and chronic headaches often overlap, and the underlying mechanism is closely related. If your head pain is more of a constant, lower-grade ache than a full migraine attack, our page on chronic headaches may speak more directly to what you’re experiencing.
What testing looks like
If the upper neck might be feeding your migraine pattern, the only honest way to find out is to measure it. Here’s what that involves.
Thermography
Thermography is a test that measures your autonomic nervous system: the same part that turns fight or flight on and off. Thermography testing can show us if your system is adapting or stuck. Being stuck in fight or flight is called sympathetic dominance. For someone with migraines, this matters, because a nervous system stuck in a heightened state is a nervous system primed for the next attack.
The test is quick, completely non-invasive, and uses no radiation. You sit still. A specialized thermal sensor measures temperature patterns along your spine. We read the pattern, and we explain what it means.
Biomechanical x-rays
If thermography suggests upper cervical involvement, the next step is biomechanical x-rays of the upper neck. These aren’t standard general-practice x-rays. They’re taken at specific angles designed to measure the position and movement of your C1 and C2 vertebrae (atlas and axis).
Every x-ray we take is read by a board-certified radiologist. We don’t make the call alone. The radiologist’s report becomes part of your file, and we walk through it with you before any care begins.
Clinical exam
Thermography and imaging tell part of the story. A hands-on clinical exam tells the rest. We assess:
- Range of motion in your upper neck
- The cervical flexion-rotation test, which checks the C1-C2 segment most involved in head pain
- Strength and endurance of the deep neck flexor muscles
- Palpable tenderness or restriction at the C1-C2 level
When several of these line up with your history and your thermography pattern, it’s a strong indication that the upper neck is part of your migraine pattern.
Will this work for you?
We don’t take every patient who walks in. The point of the free nervous system test is to find out, honestly, whether your headaches are something we can help with. Some chronic headache patients are excellent candidates for upper cervical care. Others aren’t, and we’d rather tell you that upfront than waste your time.
It’s most likely to help if…
- Your migraines are connected to a problem in your upper neck, often alongside reduced neck range of motion
- Your migraines haven’t fully responded to medications, preventives, or short-term physical therapy
- You have frequent migraines along with neck pain or stiffness
- Your clinical exam shows objective markers of upper cervical involvement: a positive cervical flexion-rotation test, deep neck flexor weakness, or palpable upper cervical joint restriction
We need to pause if…
- Your migraines are caused by a primary intracranial issue that’s been identified via MRI or CT scan. These are rare, but they require neurology or neurosurgery consult and upper cervical chiropractic care may have to wait. Part of our screening process is making sure we’re not missing something that requires a different kind of care.
- Your cervical spine appears to be unstable or you have unusual neurological symptoms. These also require specialist evaluation first.
No magic bullets
Even when upper cervical chiropractic care is the right fit, we can’t promise a cure. The goal is significant, lasting reduction in how often your migraines happen, how severe they are, and how much they disrupt your life.
Even if your migraines were only cut in half, would you still consider that a win?
If a clinic promises to cure your migraines, be skeptical. Nobody can promise that. We won’t either.
Find out if we can help your migraines
Fifteen minutes, no cost, no pressure. Just answers.