Headaches of any kind can put a major damper on your day, sucking the fun out of planned activities and making it difficult to concentrate on work or anything else that requires your attention. While many people turn to over the counter medications as a means of addressing the lingering pain associated with headaches, these medications do very little to help the headache actually go away. If anything, they’re just a band-aid!
Headaches are pretty common. Most of us will have a handful of them a year on average. Unfortunately, some people experience them almost daily. The worst news that a large percentage of the population faces headaches at such a frequent rate that going a full day without a headache may start to feel like an unattainable dream. They also believe that their headache pain is something they must battle on their own.
Solving the mystery of how to overcome regular headaches comes down to understanding why the headaches are forming. In many situations, physical therapy can be used to reduce the frequency and severity of chronic headaches. However, you must be able to identify what is causing your headaches before physical therapy will be able to help. To learn more about physical therapy for tension headache pain, contact our clinic today.
What kind of headache are you suffering from?
There are several predominant types of headaches, and step one of treating your headache is identifying what type of headache you are experiencing. Common types of headaches include:
- Stress-related headaches
- Migraine headaches
- Cluster headaches
- Tension headaches
- Nutrient-deficient / dehydration headaches
How physical therapy can help your headaches
Physical therapy for headaches will often incorporate a combination of massage therapy, guided stretching and muscle training, and additional therapeutic techniques, like hot and cold therapy and chiropractic adjustment.Working with a physical therapist can help you to address chronic pain associated with tension, stress-related, and migraine headaches.
Headaches can be identified based on how frequently they develop, the severity of the pain, and where in the head the pain is experienced. Physical therapy is often recommended for headaches that develop with regular frequency—at least once or twice per week.
Physical therapy is a much safer, healthier alternative to most of the treatment methods out there. If you have a choice between a natural and effective long-term solution to your pain, and a temporary fix that may cause harm to your health in the future, which one would you choose?
Why you should kick headache medication
While many people turn to medication for headache relief, medications merely dull the pain of the headache. It doesn’t address the source of the problem. It doesn’t make it go away. Most likely, you’ll be taking pain medication for the rest of your life without receiving long lasting relief.
So, what does physical therapy do for those suffering from chronic headaches? Physical therapy reduces the likelihood of headaches returning in the future by correcting the issue that caused the problem in the first place.
Therapists address the problem head-on (no pun intended!) by using targeted massage and stretching can alleviate tension in the neck, back, and shoulders. These methods can reduce the severity of tension headaches. Stress related headaches are often associated with tension, as well, while migraine headaches could be the result of an imbalance of hormones or nutrient deficiency. Your therapist will be able to determine if you’re dealing with either of these.
You can start working to reduce the pain of headaches at home by following a few simple strategies. Engaging in healthy activities like daily yoga practice can help you to alleviate tension, which can also help to reduce the severity and frequency of your headaches. Drinking plenty of water can help to reduce your risk of dehydration, which, like other nutritional deficiencies, can frequently lead to headaches.
Are you ready to get back to living a normal life?
With the help of a therapist, you can learn how to prevent or even eliminate tension and migraine headaches altogether. There’s no reason you need to continue scheduling your life around your headaches — you deserve much more than that!
Don’t deal with headaches any more often than you have to. Contact our clinic today to learn more about our therapy services, and how they may benefit you.
