Headache & Migraine Relief in Charleston, SC

Why your neck may be part of your headache story

Many recurring headaches have a structural component that never gets examined. The upper part of your neck sits just beneath the base of your skull, and the joints, muscles, and nerves in that region are closely tied to how your head feels. When upper cervical segments are misaligned or moving poorly, the surrounding muscles tighten, nearby nerves become irritated, and the result can show up as tension across your temples, pressure behind your eyes, or pain that climbs from the base of your skull.

Migraines are more complex than tension headaches, and we will never pretend a single adjustment erases them. What we can do is examine whether spinal dysfunction is contributing to your pattern and correct what we find. Our whole practice is built around that root-cause question. Patients describe in their reviews that Dr. Leo and Dr. Kasandra focus on treating the cause of the problem rather than chasing symptoms, and headaches are one of the conditions our own website has always listed under who we help.

If you have already cycled through medications, dark rooms, and canceled plans, an actual structural evaluation of your neck and spine is a reasonable next step, not a last resort.

How we evaluate headaches and migraines

Your first visit starts with your history: how long the headaches have been happening, where the pain sits, what triggers it, what you have already tried, and whether neck stiffness, posture, screen time, or an old injury runs alongside it. Then we perform a hands-on, segment-by-segment spinal examination in the Gonstead tradition, paying particular attention to the cervical spine.

Because we have digital radiography on site at our West Ashley office, we can take X-ray images when your case calls for them and review the findings with you before care begins. For head pain that keeps returning, seeing the actual alignment of your neck often answers questions that years of guessing never did.

You leave the evaluation with a clear explanation of what we found and a recommendation that fits your case. If your spine is not the driver of your headaches, we will tell you that plainly rather than adjust you anyway.

What headache care at our studio involves

Adjustments here are specific by design. Both doctors practice Gonstead-style chiropractic, which means the adjustment goes to the exact segments identified in your examination rather than a general twist of the whole neck. Visits are unhurried and personalized, a theme patients repeat throughout the practice's 178 Google reviews, which average 4.9 stars.

Depending on what your evaluation shows, your plan may also draw on other services we provide in house:

• Spinal corrective care when long-standing structural problems in your neck need a structured plan rather than occasional relief visits
• Soft-tissue therapy for the tight suboccipital and shoulder muscles that often accompany head pain
• Posture and ergonomic assessment when desk setups and forward-head positions are loading your neck all day
• Corrective and therapeutic exercise to help your neck and upper back hold their improvements between visits
• Stress and nervous system care, since stress is one of the conditions we address and a common headache companion

Two doctors, one focus on the cause

Dr. Leo Ruettiger graduated from Palmer College of Chiropractic in Davenport, Iowa in 2018. His own experience as a competitive wrestler whose pain resolved under chiropractic care is what drew him to this profession. Dr. Kasandra Ruettiger earned a Biomedical Science degree at Laurentian University before graduating Cum Laude from Palmer College of Chiropractic in Port Orange, Florida in 2015.

This husband-and-wife team has served the Charleston community since 2019 from our office at 1941 Savage Road Suite 300-D, welcoming headache and migraine patients from Charleston, Mt Pleasant, Summerville, James Island, and Johns Island. Because we care for whole families, from infants to grandparents, parents dealing with their own headaches often bring the rest of the household in for care as well.