Headaches are a shared universal experience. The difference these days is in how they are treated.

Did you know that headaches are responsible for more than 18 million doctor’s office visits annually in the U.S. and are the most common reason for reaching for over-the-counter medication? Equally burdensome is the dollar amount lost in productivity ($25 billion), based on the estimated 156 million WheelOutOfHandswork days forfeited each year by those too debilitated to even get out of bed.

All of this helps clarify a study in the Journal of Manipulative and Physiological Therapeutics, which is currently causing a stir among health experts—and giving patients who are looking for drug-free alternatives reason to see their local chiropractor.

The study advocates chiropractic care for two types of sufferers. “Evidence suggests,” it concluded, “that chiropractic care, including spinal manipulation, improves migraine and cervicogenic headaches.” The last refers to headaches that originate from faulty cervical and other spinal biomechanics often found in awkward motion or positioning, and can be accompanied by neck, shoulder or arm pain.

Additionally, patients with episodic or chronic tension headaches were found to be improved by doctors of chiropractic, who attend a minimum of four years of post-college chiropractic education and clinical training.

One man who knows the benefits that chiropractors can do to relieve such conditions (as well as provide nutritional advice, posture coaching and exercises) is Gerard Clum, DC, an avid supporter of the Foundation for Chiropractic Progress. In response to the study, he says, “Chiropractic care helps relieve the stress on your nervous system. And it’s fast becoming a go-to choice for providing a non-pharmacological approach to effectively manage headaches.”