Sep 4, 20222 min read

What Leads to Headaches and Migraines

Headaches can take many forms but usually display as pain in the face, or head. This can feel like a dull, aching, throbbing, constant and/or sharp discomfort. Headaches are one of the common pain conditions worldwide and around 75% of adults will have explained a headache in the past year.

There are more than 150 types of headaches but the main kind of primary headaches include:

Tension Headache
Cluster Headache
Migraines
Chronic Headaches
Rebound Headaches
and much more

What causes headaches?

Headaches can be the result signals interacting among the brain, nerves, and blood vessels. These nerves affect the muscles and blood vessels resulting in pain signals being sent to the brain.

What causes migraines?

Migraines have yet to be shown to have exact triggers or causes and are still misunderstood. The theory is unstable nerve cells react to internal and external stimuli causing chemical changes in the brain results in disabling pain.

Some good examples of Internal and external Stimulus could be: Taste, Nerve Compression, Tight Muscles, light, touch or airflow, sound, emotional stress, medications, alcohol and much more.

Signs and symptoms of a Migraine include:

Sensitivity to light
Horrible Pain
Decreased appetite and digestive pain
Blurry vision
Fever

What Neuromuscular Techniques can do to help with headaches & migraine relief

Functional neurology techniques like P-DTR are fantastic for helping relieve migraine and headache symptoms.

Very Effective components of P-DTR include:

Cranial Faults- Often the cranial bones may not be able to move properly while breathing, this can cause all kinds of issues with the body including headaches and migraines. Working on key cranial faults like the Internal Frontal, External Frontal, and Nasosphenoid among many others can drastically help relive tension in your head if you suffer from chronic headaches/migraines.
Restoring Balance to neck muscles- If you suffer from chronic headaches and neck tightness you may have tension headaches caused by an imbalance of neck muscles. Using neuromuscular techniques we can help to restore these muscles to a more optimum movement pattern and resting tension.
Facial Nociceptors- Nociceptors can usually result in pain and sometimes medication and pain killers will not even affect these issues. Often migraines are triggered by these dysfunction receptors in the face, nose, and even head itself. Clearing out these patterns can help. If you notice you have pain more often around a breeze, cool or hot temperatures, or even specific kinds of touch this may be a big indicator you have issues with nociceptors around the face. These can even cause cranial nerve dysfunctions so they are a big priority.

What Massage Therapy can do to help with headaches relief & migraines

Relieve tight muscles- for those suffering with chronic tension headaches, relieving the tight neck and jaw muscles and creating more space for the fascia around the had can be extremely beneficial.
Increase Circulation- Massage therapy can both boost blood flow and stimulate the lymphatic system allowing for faster healing and more nutrients to be delivered to the site.
Release natural pain killers- when the soft tissue is worked on it will release endorphins which act as a natural analgesic. While only temporary it will relieve pain for a short duration.