It’s safe to say that almost everyone has experienced headaches. It can be uncomfortable and distracting. I decided to share some tips about it because I’ve been experiencing it the past days I’ve been sick.
There are many types of headaches but I will be focusing on tension headaches. Physical therapy and movement can actually help reduce the pain caused by tension headaches.
What is Tension Headache?
Tension headache is not just brought about by stress. It can also happen because of the trigeminal nerve root, which is in the base of your skull. This nerve innervates your entire face and you may experience in headaches that the pain kind of jumps around your face and your head. This happens because the trigeminal nerve root is more activated during a tension headache.
Five Ways To Help With Tension Headaches
There are more ways to help with tension headaches and this list is not exhaustive. However, I find these the most effective. Hopefully, you find them helpful, too!
1. Drink a ton of water
Water is very helpful with tension headache. Sometimes, you may be dehydrated without realizing it and it could lead to having tension headache. So, if you increase your water intake, it will most likely decrease the headache you are experiencing.
2. Decrease your screen time
There are two reasons why you should do this. First is when you are in front of the screen a lot, it could create a lot of eye strain. So this can lead to having a tension headache.
The second reason is when you are on your screen a lot, you tend to be in a more forward head posture. Although posture isn’t always the reason for pain, it’s good to change your posture if you are in pain. So, when you are in a more forward head posture, this could also put a lot more strain on your trigeminal nerve bundle. Whenever there’s more strain or stress in that area, you are more likely to get a headache.
Getting away from the screen will help to let your eyes relax and take the pressure off of the nerve bundle in the back of your skull.
3. Massage your jaw, temples
When massaging your jaw, you can open and shut it and put your fingers on the side of your mouth. That is the point you have to massage when you have a tension headache. Make some circles in that area to decrease the sensitivity that your trigeminal nerve root may be experiencing. This will later on help decrease the pain from the tension headache.
As for the temples, massage the area just by the side of your eyebrows.
4. Put some pressure on the base of your skull
What I usually do for this is get two tennis balls and put it inside a sock. I also sometimes use my yoga tune-up balls and keep them in their bag. I place it in the back of my skull in the area where you can feel the bony prominences. This is the best area where you can place the balls because it helps relieve any pressure that you might be experiencing in that area.
This will not just target the trigeminal nerve root because it also helps the other muscles in that area relax. Once these muscles relax, you will feel less pain from your tension headache.
5. Strengthen your scapular muscles
This fifth way is to help prevent getting headaches in general. Your scapular muscles are the muscles between your shoulder blades. To strengthen these muscles, you can do things like rows. When these muscles are strengthened, it will put your head and your neck in a better posture. So, there’s a less chance that your trigeminal nerve can be irritated when you are sitting or doing some work in front of your screen.
If you are also taking some time to take some deep breaths and allow yourself to distress in general, it will help with your headaches.
I hope that these will help you with your headaches in the future. However, if you still struggle, you must reach out to a local physical therapist because they can help.