Why Physiotherapy for Treating Headaches?

10% of People Experience a Headache Every Day

A migraine is also a very common problem affecting at least one in every seven adults in the world. Many people believe this is a common occurrence and think nothing of it. Chronic headaches can not only cause a significant amount of pain, but can decrease how you function, impacting work, relationships, and hobbies.

City Physio wants to help you get back to 100%, where you have a clear head and don’t have to worry about those pesky pains.  Because chronic headaches could be caused by many different reasons, working on issues from many different perspectives is recommended. City Physio’s treatments may consist of a variety of different hands-on techniques touched upon below.

Headaches are mostly caused by neck joints or muscle dysfunction in your neck. This is usually related to poor posture, muscle imbalance, muscle tension and stress, or a combination of all of these factors. Combating these issues will not only help with headaches, but your overall quality of life and movement.

It’s important that your physiotherapist considers all the aspects that impact on your overall wellbeing and musculoskeletal health, so that they can help you to start to take control of your neck and tension headaches.

“At City Physiotherapy, our main focus is our patients’ overall wellness, so when you seek treatment for your headache we ensure that we get to the source with a specialised, and tailored treatment.” says Linda.

Headache disorders impose a burden on sufferers including impaired quality of life and financial cost. Repeated headache attacks, and often the constant fear of the next one, damage family life, social life and employment.

The long-term effort of coping with a chronic headache disorder may also predispose the individual to other illnesses. For example, anxiety and depression are significantly more common in people with migraine than in healthy individuals. It’s important to seek treatment to keep your headaches at bay, and keep them that way.

Headache pain originating from your neck and/or stress can be treated (and prevented) by physiotherapy. City Physiotherapy has a special interest in helping to treat headaches without the use of drugs and medications, as well as getting to the source of your pain. Your physiotherapist will often work closely with your local GP, particularly in the case of complex headaches.

Common Types of Headaches

Tension Headaches

Tension headaches are the most common type of headache, affecting two out of three Australians at some stage during their lifetime. Tension headaches are often described as involving the feeling of a tight band around the head and are often associated with muscle tightness in the head, neck or jaw.

Tension headaches can be due to physical and/or emotional stress. Poor posture, and muscle tension in the back, shoulders and neck can cause referred pain in the head. Emotional stress is believed to trigger our ‘fight or flight’ response, resulting in the release of ‘stress chemicals’ such as adrenaline.

Neck Headaches

Neck headaches result from pain referred from an underlying neck issue.

There are many pain-sensitive structures that exist in the upper neck and back of the head. These structures – including the lining of the cervical spine, the joints, ligaments, cervical nerve roots and surrounding muscles – can cause pain in the presence of an underlying issue.

Cluster Headaches

Cluster headaches are considered to be one of the most painful types of headaches. They often awaken people in the middle of the night with intense pain in, behind, or around the eye on one side of the head.

Migraines can result in severe throbbing or pulsing pain, usually on one side of the head. This is often associated with other symptoms, such as nausea, vomiting and sensitivity to both light and sound.

The causes of migraines are not well understood; however, it appears that genetics and environmental factors can play an important role. Suggested causes include alterations in the brainstem and its interactions and imbalances in brain chemicals, particularly serotonin.

A number of factors can trigger migraines in different people. These include: certain foods (eg. salty or processed foods), stress, changes in sleeping patterns, bright lights, sun glare and certain medications.

How Can Physiotherapy Help?

“It is vital that physiotherapy treatment and advice aims to address every component that contributes to your neck-related headache. Although it’s important, simply releasing tight muscles and loosening up stiff neck joints will not be sufficient to get to the cause of your pain. Your physiotherapist should assess your posture and muscle endurance, talk to you about your hobbies, exercise, sports, sleep, stress and tension.” states Linda.

Physiotherapy headache treatment may consist of a variety of hands-on techniques such as:

• joint mobilisation
• muscle stretching
• soft tissue release techniques
• dry needling for pain relief
• western acupuncture
• postural assessment
• muscle strength and endurance re-education exercises
• ergonomic assessment
• neurodynamic assessment and treatment of your nerve tension
• stress and tension management techniques including mindfulness-based stress reduction.

Your physiotherapist can also provide advice on ways to help prevent and manage some of the common underlying causes of headaches by focusing on different aspects of your lifestyle. Examples include:

• Posture – Your posture is very important. Try to make yourself stand tall with your chest lifted, shoulders relaxed, head level and chin tucked in.
• Work – Avoid working with your head down for long periods of time, and frequently stretch and change positions.
• Sleeping – Poor sleeping positions can put adverse strain on your neck. Your physiotherapist can advise you on which type of pillow may be best for you.
• Exercise – Your physiotherapist can show you specific exercises that help with tight or weak muscles and can help you to restore normal function.
• Relaxation – Learning to recognise when you are tense is an important component of tension headache physiotherapy. Your physiotherapist can show you a range of relaxation techniques that can help manage this.

By seeking treatment for your headache pain from your physiotherapist as soon as symptoms arise, you can start to work together to reduce or eliminate it.

Call us or book online for a same-day appointment with one of our highly experienced and qualified physiotherapists!

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