Headache Relief For Frequent Headache Sufferers

Not all headaches are created equally.  There are those that suffer from migraines, which may be preceded by visual aura and have trigger factors such as hormonal changes, certain food additives, alcohol, and weather pressure changes.  Then there are tension headaches, which are the most common type, and are mostly triggered by stress.  And there is also cervicogenic headaches, which originate from the neck, are commonly one-sided in nature (unlike tension headaches), and are frequently exacerbated with movement.  There are other types of headaches, many of which can treated successfully by lifestyle changes or with medications (although this can lead to another headache type, called a rebound headache), but I’m going to focus on the cervicogenic headaches, which can be successfully treated by a qualified physical therapist.

A hallmark of cervicogenic headaches is concurrent neck pain, and there is also generally tenderness at the base of the skull and limitations in neck range of motion, particularly with looking overhead and turning you head side to side.  These headaches can be frequent in nature, and although they originate at the base of the skull and neck, they frequently may refer into the forehead and orbit (area around the eye and cheek).

Physical therapy can help by addressing the neck limitations at the root cause of these headaches, by performing manual deep tissue massage and joint mobilizations, teaching range of motion and stretching exercises, and strengthening and retraining deep neck flexor muscles and shoulder blade muscles.  Poor activation and weakness of these muscles can be leading to poor postural awareness, thus exacerbating the headaches.

Feel free to contact me at aobright@osipt.com with any questions, and if you feel you are suffering from cervicogenic headaches consider one of the qualified physical therapists at OSI Physical Therapy to help reduce the severity, duration and frequency of these types of headaches.

– Tony