What We Treat

Headaches treatment in Wilmington.

The one that arrives at 3pm and takes the rest of your day with it. Many headaches are driven by the neck, and that part is treatable.

Tension headaches Cervicogenic Post-injury Talk to a Specialist

Sound Familiar?

Does this sound like you?

  • A headache that starts at the base of your skull and wraps forward behind the eye
  • Pain that shows up on the same side, every time
  • The 3pm arrival that is reliable enough to plan around
  • Neck stiffness that turns up with the headache, or just before it
  • Screens, bright light or noise making it noticeably worse
  • A medicine cabinet strategy that is not really working any more

Two or more? Keep reading.

Why It Happens

Most headaches are symptoms. Something causes them.

It is almost never just one thing. It is usually some mix of four culprits: irritable joints in the upper neck that refer pain into the head, tight and overworked muscles at the base of the skull, jaw and breathing patterns that keep those muscles switched on, and screen habits that hold your head forward for hours at a time.

None of that shows up on a quick glance. It takes a real, cause-first evaluation to sort out which one is actually driving your pain. That’s why rest, ice, or a generic stretching sheet so often falls short: they treat the symptom, not the source. Find the real cause, and the fix gets obvious.

Person holding their temples with a tension headache

The Honest Truth

Waiting on a neck and head doesn’t make it wait on you.

If you keep waiting

  • You move less to avoid it, which weakens the exact muscles that were supposed to protect the area
  • The good side takes over, and now two areas are doing one job badly
  • The nervous system gets better at producing the pain, so less provocation sets it off

If you start this week

  • You stop doing the things you used to enjoy, and stopping is what makes the next flare worse
  • What started as a simple problem picks up two or three complications on the way
  • The fix stays available the whole time. It just takes longer the further you let it run

Nobody regrets starting too early. Every week, someone in our clinic says they regret waiting.

How We Fix It

The same four phases. Built for your neck and head.

Every plan has an endpoint. Here’s what the four phases look like for a low back.

Weeks 1–2

Pain

Calm the pain down.

Settle the pain down first, with hands-on treatment and the loading your neck and head can actually tolerate right now.

Weeks 2–6

Prime

Get your motion back.

Rebuild the motion and the control the neck and head lost, so the strengthening has something to work with.

Weeks 6–10

Perform

Make it strong enough to trust.

Load it properly, and take the neck and head back to the thing you actually want to do rather than to a generic exercise sheet.

Weeks 10+

Prevent

Return better than before.

Keep it. You leave with the small amount of work that holds the result, and a clear endpoint rather than an open tab.

I have been a patient with AIM off and on for several years and several ailments. Without hesitation I recommend this PT group to anyone in need of their services. There's no junior staff involved5...there are 3 Doctors of PT directly handling all patients. Highly knowledgeable, great atmosphere...why wouldn't you go?

Brud D. · Advance in Motion patient · via Google

Related Conditions

Pain rarely stays in one place.

Compensation patterns often show up nearby. Here’s what else we treat.

1

Neck Pain

That 3pm headache that starts in your neck and ends your afternoon.

Learn More 2

Hip & Knee Pain

That pinch getting out of the car, or the stairs you now take one at a time.

Learn More 3

Back Pain & Sciatica

Bracing on the counter just to stand up straight in the morning.

Learn More

Questions, Answered

What people ask before booking for headaches.

Usually not, and it is rarely the first step. Imaging is useful when it would change the plan, and a lot of the time it does not: scans routinely show wear and tear in people who have no pain at all. A hands-on evaluation tells us how you actually move, which is what the treatment is built on. If your case does warrant imaging or a specialist, we will say so and help you get there.

Yes, in most cases movement helps more than rest does. Hurt doesn’t always mean harm, total rest tends to make a back stiffer and weaker, which sets up the next flare-up. The key is dosing the right movement for your specific back, which is exactly what a Doctor of PT sorts out at your evaluation, then progresses safely as you improve.

That depends on what the evaluation finds, and you will get a straight answer at that first visit rather than an open-ended course of care. Every plan here has a defined endpoint, and we tell you what it is before you commit to it.



Book Your Visit

Ready when you are.

Request a time and a real person calls you back, usually within two business hours. No phone tree. No ‘someone will reach out.’ Just a plan.

  • Hours Monday to Friday, 7:00am to 5:30pm
  • (910) 782-2150 Prefer to talk now? Call us.
  • No referral needed to start

5.0 · 200+ Google reviews

Typical response: under 2 business hours

Step 1 of 5

So we know who to look for when you walk in.

Visit Us

Care this good, this close.

Advance in Motion Physical Therapy

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