
How can physical therapy help relieve headaches and migraines?
Muscle tension and tightness, disc pathology, poor posture, shoulder blade pain, lack of motion in your neck can all cause headaches or migraines and can all be treated by Physical Therapy. By treating the underlying issue can help us find your headache and migraine relief.
Pain of any type that occurs in any part of the head is called a headache. There are many different types of headaches, with just as many causes. The International Headache Society describes several different categories of headache:
- Tension-type
- Migraine and cluster
- Secondary headaches from an underlying condition, such as fever, infectious disease, sinus disorder, or in rare cases, a tumor or more serious illness
- Cranial neuralgias, facial pain, and other headaches
Most headaches are harmless and resolve on their own, although severe headaches that recur frequently can affect your ability to do your daily activities and can reduce your quality of life.
There is effective treatment for almost every type of headache. The challenge lies in determining the type of headache, its cause, and in developing an appropriate treatment plan that will reduce both its frequency and intensity. Physical therapists can help determine the type of headache you have and are experts in managing pain from tension-type headaches.
How quickly will my headache be relieved?
Depending on your evaluation and the condition some patients experience pain relief within their first few appointments. There’s even a chance you walk in with a headache and leave relieved. However, some patients require a few weeks of therapy to correct and address more severe motion and strength issues.
If you have daily or weekly headaches come to Horizon Physical Therapy and speak with one of our Physical Therapists about your condition. We can give you an evaluation with a plan for treatment for your headaches and migraines. If you’ve tried other options to relieve headache pain then it’s worth giving us a call.