Our initial consults run for an hour and during your initial consult, your practitioner will ask you a series of detailed questions about your history and experience with headache/migraine. 

We will ask questions such as:

• Where and when you experience pain/symptoms
• Types of medications you take 
• Other treatments you’ve had in the past 
• How the pain is affecting you

We understand how debilitating headache/migraine can be for some people so we take the time to listen to what our patients have to say and from there we develop individualised treatment plans focused around reducing headache and migraine frequency and improving quality of life. 

Following a detailed history taking process, a thorough medical and osteopathic assessment is completed. We will use a series of specific examination techniques to determine what is causing your headaches or migraines. Our initial consult will focus on all aspects that could be contributing to your pain and can include but is not limited to the following:

• Joints of upper cervical spine C1-3 
• Joints of lower cervical spine C4-7
• Thoracic spine T1-12
• Myofascial trigger points – cervical spine, trapezius, scalenes, shoulders and chest
• Diet
• Hormones 
• Other lifestyle factors

Once we have a working diagnosis, we outline our recommendations, treatment plan and help educate our patients about the complexities of headache and migraine, answering any questions you may have. 

Treatment primarily focuses on the neck due to its close relationship with headache and migraine but through our experience we have found that in order to obtain the best results we may also need to treat other areas of the body like the back, shoulders and chest. 

Will treatment work for me? 

If you are unsure whether or not you are the right candidate for our treatment, or you have had treatment on your neck before that you feel hasn’t assisted you, we encourage you to take 5 minutes to complete the following survey. After completing the survey we will be in contact with you to discuss the results and determine if our treatment approach may assist you.

What is the Watson Headache Approach?

The Watson Headache approach is a treatment approach developed by musculoskeletal physiotherapist Dr Dean Watson PhD to examine and treat the upper cervical spine due to its role in headache and migraine. Through years of clinical practice and research, Dr Watson has identified clinical links between dysfunction in the upper cervical spine and headache and migraine conditions. The Watson Headache approach involves manually assessing and treating the neck without the use of manipulation and has been taught by Dr Watson to manual therapists such as Osteopaths for years. 

The aims of the approach include: 

• Identifying the link between upper cervical dysfunction and headache and migraine conditions
• Accurately determine relevant spinal segments involved in headache and migraine by systematically applying a series of techniques backed by research 
• Reproduce and resolve a patient’s symptoms with sustained application of technique
• Correct underlying dysfunction in the upper cervical spine due to brainstem sensitisation (Note: a sensitised brainstem is the underlying cause of headache and migraine disorders)