Headaches and your neck…
Your headache could be coming from your neck
Did you know that headaches are often caused by neck issues? As Osteopaths, we often see patients who have headaches which can be relieved by some simple treatment, exercises and postural advice.
Lots of muscles are used to keep our head upright, and when we get tightness in these muscles, it can feel like a headache. The muscles attach as far as your back all the way up to your skull itself.
A tension headache can occur up the back of the skull and track across the top, sometimes all the way to the eyes. Other types of headache include migraines, where you may also experience light sensitivity or nausea, and cervicogenic headaches, where joint dysfunction within the joint of the neck can cause a sensation of pain in your head, that is usually made worse for moving your head a certain way or pressing on a certain muscle.
These headaches can range from mildly annoying to utterly debilitating, but there are some things you can do to help.
Treatment
Treatment may consist of soft tissue massage, decompression of the neck, mobilisation of the neck joints, balancing of the ligaments around the joints, and other techniques that can relax the muscles, increase movement at the joints in the neck and take pressure away from your head. It’s always up to you which types of treatment you receive, so if there are any particular techniques you don’t want, just let your Osteopath know.
Get moving
If you’re at your desk, stand up and walk around for a minute, and roll your shoulders back a few times in a slow and gentle motion. You can also slightly bend your head to the side while keeping your shoulders still, which can help relieve tension in some of your muscles. See below for our “stretch of the month” for stretching out your neck.
Stretch it out
Give yourself a double chin: gently tuck your chin slightly down and back towards your neck, so that you create a “double chin”. It should feel like you’re getting a bit of a stretch at the back of your lower neck, often where there’s a “lumpy bit” where your back turns into your neck. Get Dr Anna to show you at your next appointment if you’re unsure.
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Headaches
Neck pain
Posture
Alignment
Treatment
