Your headache can leave you feeling helpless. But often there are things we can do to improve or prevent the crippling pain of a headache without the use of Tylenol, Advil or other pain controlling medications.  Regular stretching, exercise and massage therapy can bring so much relief you would wonder why you never tried these simple ideas before.

The most common cause for your headache is Referral Pain from muscle tension in your neck and shoulders.  Overuse of vulnerable muscles can cause large painful knots in your muscle’s called Trigger Points. The pain created by Trigger Points is not always located in the area of the Trigger Point itself. Referred pain from the muscles in your neck and shoulder is often called a tension headache.

To reduce your tension headache you need to relax the affected muscles and reduce these Trigger Points. Three ways for you to do this are to relax the muscle through the application of heat, stretching the effected muscle and massage. Below I have detailed a few general neck stretches and exercises.  These stretches target muscles that commonly cause a tension headache. Be sure to follow my general guidelines of stretching when doing any of these exercises. Gentle massage from a loved one can be very beneficial but could potentially cause irritation to the Trigger point. A registered massage therapist is highly skilled in trigger point release.

Muscle Number One

The Upper Trapezius is a flat triangular muscle that runs from the base of your skull and neck to your shoulder. The Upper Trapezius elevates the shoulder and supports the shoulder girdle when lifting a load. An Upper Trapezius Trigger Point will commonly create pain around the ear and into the temple. Find directions on how to stretch the upper trapezius muscle here.

Muscle Number Two

The Levator Scapula muscle runs from the top tip of the shoulder blade up to the top four joints of the neck.  The Levator Scapula lifts the shoulder blade and helps control side to side movement of the head. A Trigger Point in Levator Scapula can cause pain behind the head and to the back of the neck. Find directions to stretch the Levator Scapula here.

Muscle Number Three

Your sub-occipital muscles are a group of small muscle below the base of your skull at the back of your neck. These muscles control fine movements of your head. Trigger Points in this group of muscles will refer pain into your forehead and behind your eyes.

Due to the complexity of movements required to stretch the sub-occipital muscles I’m going to suggest gentle self-massage at the space between your neck and the base of your skull.