About the Headache Clinic
The Headache Clinic in South Africa is an internationally acclaimed treatment centre for all types of primary headaches, including migraine, tension headache, and cluster headache. Our medical team treats an average of 100 new patients a month, many of whom travel from all over the world for our unique breakthrough treatments.
Our team is led by Dr. Elliot Shevel who is a world authority in the field of migraine, tension headache, and cluster headache. Dr Shevel has developed ground-breaking treatment techniques based on his exhaustive study of medical science and medical literature. He publishes extensively in medical journals, lectures at congresses around the world, and his scientific discoveries have completely overturned and challenged conventional wisdom.
The Headache Clinic’s treatment success rate is exceedingly high and is directly related to our research and innovation and the pioneering medical breakthroughs for these complex conditions.
Why we are different
What distinguishes The Headache Clinic from other headache treatment centres around the world, is our unique understanding of where the pain actually comes from. Unlike most specialists who believe the pain originates in the brain, Dr Shevel has proven that the pain is actually caused by the superficial arteries that occur outside the skull, and the muscles of the head, face and neck.
Our non-drug treatments provide long-term relief for most patients, while eliminating dependencies on pain medication, anti-depressants and sleeping tablets. Our highly accurate diagnostic methods are unique to The Headache Clinic and our treatments are not currently offered anywhere else in the world.
Dr. Shevel has been pioneering breakthrough medical treatments in the field of migraine, cluster, and tension headache for the past 25 years with thousands of patients enjoying a new lease on life as a result of his work.
Dr Elliot Shevel
MEDICAL DIRECTOR
Dr Elliot Shevel is the Chairman of the South African Headache Society, the official South African affiliate of the International Headache Society (IHS). He is a peer reviewer for: ‘Headache’ the official journal of the American Headache Society; ‘Cephalalgia’ the official journal of the International Headache Society; ‘The European Journal of Neurology’; ‘The Journal of Clinical Practice’; ‘Clinical and Experimental Medical Letters’; the ‘Medical Science Monitor‘; and many other medical journals.
Dr Shevel has published more than thirty scientific articles in national and international peer-reviewed medical journals on migraine, tension headache and cluster headache. His collaborators include Harvard Medical School Department of Neurology and researchers from the European and American Headache Societies.
How we do it
Comprehensive Diagnosis
We achieve our excellent treatment results with Dr. Shevel’s unique and comprehensive diagnosis protocol that accurately determines each patient’s individual pain map. The accuracy of the diagnosis allows us to pinpoint the anatomical structures that are responsible for causing the pain.
There are four main origins of pain: 1) Muscle tension 2) Arterial dilation/inflammation 3) Nerve sensitivity 4) Tendon sensitivity. These anatomical structures are the focus of our diagnosis and treatment. Of the thousands of patients Dr. Shevel treats each year almost all of them present with pain from one or more of these structures. Dr. Shevel’s Maxillo-Facial and Oral expertise has allowed him to develop drug-free treatments that offer relief from these painful structures.
Treatment
Dr. Shevel’s treatment for headache and migraine including; hemiplegic migraine, tension headache, trigeminal neuralgia, myofascial pain, medication overuse headache and cluster headache, focuses on the muscles of the jaw, face, head and neck as well as the many small arteries that lie on the outside of the skull.
These structures are ignored by other headache specialists and neurologists because conventional medical thinking has been that the pain originates in the brain. However published medical research has proved conclusively that the pain is extra-cranial (outside the skull), and Dr. Shevel’s treatment success rate bears testament to this. Specialists can read this breakthrough article that explains how headache pain does NOT originate from arteries in the brain, by Schoonman et al (Brain 2008).
Treatment Success
Every patient that we see has their own unique pain map, and experiences their own unique treatment journey. Some patients experience immediate results, yet others take many weeks of incremental treatment to achieve the same success. It has happened that some patients, so disillusioned by past experiences, gave up on completing their treatment when they did not experience immediate results.
Many of our greatest success stories are patients that kept the faith and stayed as committed to finding every source of their pain as Dr Shevel and his team are. We never give up on our patients.
Patient Success Stories
In the Media
Contact Us
Johannesburg:
45 Empire Road, Parktown,
Johannesburg, South Africa
Tel: +27 11 484 0933
Email: info@theheadacheclinic.net
International Patients:
We have patients coming for treatment from all over the world, and will be happy to assist and advise on suitable accommodation and airport transfers Find Out
Tel:+27 11 484 0933
Email: info@theheadacheclinic.net
info@theheadacheclinic.net