Hormonal Headaches & Migraines: What Your Cycle Has to Do with Your Brain
If your headaches seem to follow a pattern—popping up right before your period, during ovulation, after giving birth, or even in the lead-up to menopause—you’re not imagining it.
These are called hormonal headaches or hormonal migraines, and they affect millions of women across every life stage.
In fact, women are three times more likely than men to experience migraines, largely due to the natural hormonal fluctuations of the menstrual cycle and reproductive years (MacGregor, 2004).
But here's the good news: you don’t have to feel at the mercy of your cycle.
At Nomad Chiropractic Mosman, we take a nervous system-first approach to managing hormonal headaches—supporting your brain, body, and hormones with gentle, whole-body chiropractic care.
Let’s explore how your hormones, brain, and spine are all connected—and how chiropractic may help you feel more balanced through every phase of life.
What Are Hormonal Headaches and Migraines?
Hormonal headaches are headaches that are triggered or worsened by changes in hormone levels—especially oestrogenand progesterone. These changes affect how sensitive your brain and nervous system are to pain, stress, inflammation, and even blood flow.
For many women, migraines are most likely to occur:
In the 2–3 days before menstruation (as oestrogen drops)
During ovulation (sudden oestrogen spike)
Postpartum (oestrogen crash)
Perimenopause and menopause (unstable hormones)
The most common culprit?
A sudden drop in oestrogen, which can increase excitability in the brain, lower the migraine threshold, and disrupt the vascular and neurological balance that keeps your head pain-free (Martin & Behbehani, 2006).
What Makes Hormonal Migraines Different?
While they can look similar to other migraines, hormonal migraines tend to:
Occur at the same time in your cycle each month
Be more intense or harder to manage
Be less responsive to medication
Come with fatigue, brain fog, mood swings, or sleep disturbances
Sometimes lack aura (though this varies)
Many women describe them as a "storm" they can predict—but can’t prevent. That’s where nervous system regulationbecomes so important.
Your Brain, Hormones & the Nervous System
To understand why chiropractic helps, we need to zoom out. Hormonal shifts don’t just happen in isolation. They interact with your:
Brainstem and hypothalamus (which regulate hormones and temperature)
Autonomic nervous system (which balances stress and calm)
Spinal cord (which sends and receives brain-body messages)
When you’re stuck in sympathetic dominance (fight or flight mode), your body becomes more sensitive to inflammation, light, noise, and pain—amplifying the intensity of migraines.
And when your cervical spine or cranial bones are under tension, this can disrupt blood flow, lymphatic drainage, and the brainstem pathways that keep migraines in check.
This is where chiropractic care offers a different lens: instead of chasing hormones, we support your body’s ability to adapt to hormonal changes more gracefully.
How Chiropractic Can Help with Hormonal Headaches
At Nomad Chiropractic, we look at the whole system: your spine, posture, cranial tension, stress load, sleep quality, and even gut function (which helps detox hormones). Our goal is to reduce nervous system overwhelm and support healthy hormone signalling from brain to body.
Here’s how chiropractic care can help:
1. Improve Nervous System Regulation
Gentle adjustments can activate the parasympathetic nervous system, helping you shift out of chronic stress mode. This reduces cortisol spikes and supports hormone balance through the HPA axis (hypothalamus–pituitary–adrenal).
2. Support Brainstem and Cranial Function
Misalignment or tension in the upper neck (C1–C3) and cranial bones can affect the trigeminal nucleus, blood vessels, and pain processing centres—all of which are major players in migraine physiology.
3. Reduce Muscular and Postural Strain
Forward head posture and upper back tension restrict blood flow and increase pressure in the head. Adjustments, soft tissue therapy, and home exercises help restore flow and reduce tension.
4. Enhance Detox and Drainage
Chiropractic adjustments may assist lymphatic flow and glymphatic drainage, both essential for clearing inflammatory by-products from the brain—especially important in hormonal migraines.
5. Encourage Hormonal Resilience
By regulating stress, improving sleep, reducing nervous system noise, and enhancing brain-body connection, chiropractic can help your body tolerate hormonal changes with less symptom load.
Additional Support Strategies for Hormonal Headaches
While chiropractic is central to our care plans, we also guide you with holistic, lifestyle-based tools to support your cycle and nervous system:
🟡 Cycle tracking – Understand when you’re most vulnerable so you can plan rest, hydration, and self-care accordingly.
🟡 Magnesium – Essential for muscle relaxation, nerve regulation, and hormonal balance. We love magnesium glycinate or topical magnesium sprays.
🟡 Sleep hygiene – Hormonal migraines are worse when you’re sleep-deprived. Prioritise regular bedtime, low-light evenings, and screen breaks.
🟡 Blood sugar stability – Eat balanced meals with protein and healthy fats to avoid insulin spikes (which can trigger migraines).
🟡 Hydration – Headaches are often worse with dehydration, especially premenstrually. Aim for 2–3L per day.
🟡 Nervous system practices – Breathwork, vagus nerve stimulation, or gentle movement can calm the brain and reduce pain sensitivity.
🟡 Referral to other modalities – If needed, we work closely with local GPs, nutritionists, acupuncturists, or hormone-savvy practitioners.
What the Research Says
Women are 3x more likely than men to suffer from migraines, largely due to hormonal fluctuations (MacGregor, 2004).
Drops in oestrogen can trigger migraines through altered serotonin and vascular activity (Martin & Behbehani, 2006).
Chiropractic care may reduce the frequency, intensity, and duration of migraine attacks without medication side effects (Tuchin et al., 2000).
Improved spinal alignment and posture support brainstem and autonomic balance, which are critical for migraine control (Haavik, 2014).
Magnesium, used adjunctively, has been shown to reduce hormonal migraine intensity (Sun-Edelstein & Mauskop, 2009).
The Nomad Difference for hormonal headaches and migraines
At Nomad Chiropractic, we understand that hormonal health is nervous system health. Our Mosman-based team supports women through every phase—adolescence, fertility, pregnancy, postpartum, perimenopause, and beyond.
We offer:
Cycle-aware care
Nervous system scanning
Cranial and cervical adjustments
Posture and breathwork support
Education on stress, sleep, and self-regulation
We don’t just chase pain—we partner with you to create long-term hormonal resilience.
Homecare Movement Tips
📲 FOLLOW SANDY ON SOCIALS! She gives heaps of Homecare intentional movement tips.
👉[Facebook]
👉[Instagram]
Nomad Chiropractic in the News!
Neighbourhood Media recently interviewed Sandy and Kristin about their holistic approach to headaches, migraines, TMJ & whole-body wellness with chiropractic care on Sydney’s Lower North Shore.
FAQ
-
Yes. Fluctuations in oestrogen—especially before your period or during perimenopause—can trigger migraines by affecting pain processing and blood flow in the brain.
-
Chiropractic helps by regulating the nervous system, improving spinal and cranial alignment, and reducing stress-related tension—making your body more resilient to hormonal shifts.
-
Yes. Many women experience them during menstruation, postpartum, and perimenopause. Chiropractic can help reduce the intensity and frequency by improving whole-body balance.
-
Magnesium, B-complex, and omega-3s are commonly recommended, but it's best to consult a practitioner for personalised advice.
-
Absolutely. Poor posture—especially forward head posture—can create tension in the neck and brainstem that amplifies migraine symptoms. Chiropractic care addresses both posture and hormonal regulation.
Want to learn more? Book a FREE 15min discovery call with one of our Sydney Headache and Migraine Chiropractors today: Book HERE
-
MacGregor, EA. (2004). Oestrogen and attacks of migraine with and without aura. Lancet Neurology.
Martin, VT & Behbehani, MM. (2006). Ovarian hormones and migraine headache: understanding mechanisms and pathogenesis. Headache.
Tuchin, PJ, Pollard, H, Bonello, R. (2000). A randomized controlled trial of chiropractic spinal manipulative therapy for migraine. J Manipulative Physiol Ther.
Haavik, H. (2014). The Reality Check: A quest to understand chiropractic from the inside out.
Sun-Edelstein, C., Mauskop, A. (2009). Role of magnesium in the pathogenesis and treatment of migraines. Clin Neurosci.
-
This blog post is for general informational and educational purposes only. It is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any medical condition, nor should it be considered individual health advice. Please consult with your healthcare provider, chiropractor, or medical professional before making any decisions about your health or starting any new care program. Chiropractic care and outcomes may vary depending on individual circumstances. At Nomad Chiropractic, we provide personalised care based on a full clinical assessment and your unique needs. If you are experiencing sudden, severe, or unusual headaches, seek immediate medical attention.