Migraines & Headaches in Auckland & Christchurch

Living with migraines or recurring headaches can severely disrupt your work, sleep, and everyday life. When conventional treatments bring only temporary relief, it is because the underlying mechanical drivers are often left unaddressed.

Target the Hidden Root Cause of Persistent Head Pain

Standard treatments often focus on masking surface pain. At Cranial Solutions, we evaluate the deep physical drivers inside the head, face, and upper neck that others often miss.

At the centre of our approach is the dura, the protective membrane surrounding your brain and spinal cord. When subtle structural misalignments create tension or physical pressure on this deep membrane, it can irritate vital neural pathways and trigger persistent, recurring head pressure.

How The NasalRX Procedure Helps

The NasalRX Procedure is designed to address these internal restrictions directly. This precise, non-surgical endonasal approach uses gentle, controlled inflation inside the nasal passages to release deep cranial and facial blocks.

By easing underlying dural tension, the procedure focuses on the reduction in physical strain, supporting natural intracranial fluid movement and creating the ideal environment for long-term recovery.

Stop managing the symptoms of internal compression. Address the structural restriction at the core.

Our clinical protocol focuses directly on structural cause and effect. Rather than offering generalised or short-term maintenance, we prioritise deep, foundational change. We conduct a thorough mechanical assessment of your internal nasal anatomy, jaw mobility, and upper neck alignment to establish a clear structural baseline.

This enables us to map out a precise sequence of sessions specifically engineered to correct bone restrictions and facilitate deep skeletal alignment. By directly releasing fixed cranial and facial boundaries, the NasalRX procedure delivers excellent clinical progress - restoring optimal cranial mechanics, relieving deep-seated tension, and providing a stable foundation for long-term health.

People living with migraine or recurring headaches often describe more than head pain alone. Their symptoms may include pressure around the forehead or temples, discomfort behind the eyes, light sensitivity, neck stiffness, jaw tension or restricted nasal breathing.

We consider how these symptoms fit together and which findings may be relevant to your experience.

A Connected Cranial and Cervical Approach

We consider the cranial base, including the sphenoid, temporal and occipital regions, alongside the neck, jaw and breathing pattern. These relationships form the clinical framework behind our use of NasalRX and accompanying cervical care.

Our model also considers how mechanical relationships and breathing may influence circulation, cerebrospinal fluid, the fluid surrounding the brain and spinal cord and drainage pathways. These fluid-related relationships form part of our clinical rationale.

Assessment helps us decide whether this approach is appropriate for you, establish the symptoms that matter most, and review your response as care progresses.

The dura contains pain-sensitive nerve endings and has important relationships with the cranial base, blood vessels and surrounding connective tissues.

Many of these sensory signals travel through the trigeminal system, a major pathway involved in migraine and facial pain. During migraine, increased sensitivity within these pathways can make ordinarily tolerable stimulation more painful.

Research shows that nerves supplying the membranes around the brain can respond to stretching and other mechanical changes. Experimental migraine research also suggests that these nerves can become more responsive to movement. This is part of the scientific background to our interest in the physical environment around these pain-sensitive tissues.

How the Cranial Base and Dura Connect

Inside the skull, the dura forms supportive folds that help separate and support different parts of the brain.

These folds connect with several regions of the skull. The sphenoid, behind the nose and eyes, the temporal bones, at the sides of the head, and the occiput, at the back and base of the skull, all have important relationships with the dura.

These connections are central to our structural approach. Our clinical rationale for NasalRX is to influence cranial and facial mobility and their mechanical relationships, with the aim of reducing contributing tension and irritation. Your symptoms, assessment findings and response guide how we apply this approach.

Neck pain is common among people living with migraine. A systematic review found that approximately 77% of people with episodic migraine and 87% with chronic migraine reported neck pain in the included clinic-based studies.

The head and upper neck share interconnected sensory pathways. This helps explain why pain in these regions can overlap, although neck pain during migraine does not always mean that a neck problem is causing the attack.

The Myodural Bridge: Connecting the Neck and Dura

Deep beneath the muscles at the base of the skull are connective-tissue attachments known collectively as the myodural bridge complex. These link several small upper-neck muscles to the spinal portion of the dura, the tough, protective membrane surrounding both the brain and spinal cord.

This creates a physical relationship between neck movement, muscular loading and the dura. Researchers have investigated how forces transmitted through these connections may influence dural mechanics and cerebrospinal fluid movement.

The relationship may also involve feedback: changes in muscular loading can influence the dura, while pain-related sensory responses may influence neck muscle activity. This possible two-way interaction helps explain why we consider cranial and cervical findings together.

Cranial and Cervical Care Together

Cervical assessment is part of our approach. We consider neck movement, tenderness and symptom patterns alongside the occipital region, cranial base, jaw and face.

Where appropriate, cervical care accompanies NasalRX within the same treatment plan. We review which findings are relevant to your symptoms and how you respond as care progresses.

Pain behind the eyes and sensitivity to light can be among the most disruptive parts of a migraine. Some people also describe facial pressure or discomfort when looking in particular directions.

These symptoms matter in our assessment. We consider them alongside your migraine or headache pattern and the findings from examination.

The Eye-Dura Relationship

The protective coverings around the optic nerve are continuous with the membranes surrounding the brain. This anatomical connection is part of why we take an interest in the relationships between the eyes, cranial base and dura.

Light sensitivity also involves how the nervous system processes visual signals and pain. We consider both this sensitivity and the structural findings relevant to your individual presentation.

In our clinical experience, patients receiving NasalRX frequently report improvements in light sensitivity and discomfort with eye movement. We track these changes alongside the frequency and intensity of migraine attacks and other headaches, and their effect on everyday life.

Understanding Your Triggers

You may notice that your migraine attacks or other headaches follow a pattern involving sleep, stress, hormonal changes or shifts in the weather. Understanding your own pattern helps us assess your symptoms and review progress.

In our clinical experience, the changes following NasalRX can be profound: fewer and less intense migraine attacks and other headaches, reduced light sensitivity, and a return to activities that symptoms had made difficult. For many patients, that means much more than symptom relief, it means getting back to enjoying life.

NasalRX is a non-surgical procedure that uses a small inflation device within selected nasal passageways. Brief, controlled inflation creates a sensation of pressure followed by release.

Treatment is tailored to your symptoms and assessment findings.

1. Understanding Your Symptoms

We begin with your migraine and headache history and how symptoms affect your life. Assessment considers cranial and facial mechanics, the jaw, upper neck and nasal breathing, helping us determine whether NasalRX is appropriate for you.

2. The NasalRX Procedure

We explain the procedure before starting, including the sensations you may experience. The device is positioned within the nasal passage, and inflation is applied briefly and in a controlled manner.

Our clinical aim is to influence cranial and facial mobility and the mechanical relationships discussed above. Cervical care may accompany NasalRX where appropriate.

3. Comparing Before & After Treatment

We assess cranial and facial structures through hands-on palpation before and after NasalRX, comparing how these areas feel and respond to examination. These findings guide how we adjust treatment using advanced biomechanics to resolve any remaining mechanical restrictions. Depending on the findings, treatment may involve internal joint alignment through controlled inflation, external manual soft-tissue work and joint repositioning, or a combination of these approaches.

Drawing on many years of daily clinical experience, we often find that changes felt during this assessment closely correspond with the improvements patients describe following treatment.

We consider these findings alongside changes in migraine attacks and other headaches, light sensitivity, eye discomfort, head pressure and neck movement. Together, your feedback and our clinical assessment guide the next steps in your care.

Your Comfort Matters

The pressure sensation can feel unusual, and individual experiences vary. We discuss suitability, possible discomfort and relevant risks beforehand, and encourage you to tell us how you feel throughout treatment.

For a fuller explanation, visit NasalRX Treatment and NasalRX Safety & What to Expect.

Living with migraine or recurring headaches often brings questions beyond the pain itself. These articles explore common symptom patterns and concerns, helping you better understand your experience.

Choose the topic that matters most to you:

• Neck Pain, Migraine & HeadachesHow are they connected?
• Migraine & Headache Behind the EyesEye pain, light sensitivity and visual symptoms.
• Weather Changes, Barometric Pressure & MigraineUnderstanding your pattern of sensitivity.
• Waking Up With a Headache or MigraineExploring possible contributors.
• Menstrual & Hormonal MigraineUnderstanding recurring patterns.
• Medication Overuse & Rebound HeadacheUnderstanding when frequent medication use may contribute.

For treatment information, visit NasalRX Treatment and NasalRX Safety & What to Expect.