N E W S L E T T E R
THE HEADACHE &NECK PAIN CONNECTION T H E K E Y T O H E A D A C H E R E L I E F M I G H T B E Y O U R N E C K
Headaches have a bad habit of making their appearance at the most inconvenient times. The middle of the workday, early in the evening when you have hours of responsibilities ahead of you, or even first thing in the morning when you are trying to pay attention to your morning meeting — headaches don’t care how important the work ahead of you is. Many people choose to live with headaches and rely on over the counter pain medication to alleviate pain, often because there is a lack of education regarding the origin and effective treatment of headaches. In this newsletter, we will provide you with information on the most common origin of headaches, and what we can do as physical therapists to decrease the occurrence and intensity of your headaches. There are numerous reasons for headaches, but 98% of the time they are either migraines, tension headaches, or cluster headaches. These are all types of primary headaches. Secondary headaches are often more serious, but they are also more rare. Healthcare practitioners are trained to take a detailed patient history to differentiate between the numerous headache disorders. Regarding primary headaches, tension headaches affect 60-80% of the population while migraines have a prevalence of 15% and are more common in females. Our main focus here will be directed towards tension headaches. When Neck Pain Leads to Headaches Tension headaches are also called cervicogenic headaches because they are caused by increased tension in the cervical spine (neck).
The majority of the time, neck pain starts out as a seemingly small concern. A crick in your neck here or there may start to develop more frequently, and before you know it, your experience of neck pain is something you are dealing with daily. It isn’t always the result of something large. While being in a car accident or experiencing another sort of injury can definitely lead to chronic neck pain, the cause of the issue isn’t always as simple to identify. Sometimes it is a bad habit that you don’t really think twice about, like your habit of watching TV as you fall asleep, keeping your neck at an odd angle as you rest for the evening, or maybe as a result of your pillow or posture as you type at your desk every day. These poor habits are common, and most of us consider them to be harmless. Sure, you know it isn’t great for you, but what is actually going to happen? Part of the battle is recognizing the compromising positions we are putting our body in, but it is also important to reverse the changes that may have occurred in your spine and surrounding soft tissue. Over the counter medication offers temporary relief but often does not address the origin of the headache. The reality is that these seemingly irrelevant habits could be putting undue stress on your neck and leading to headaches. Call us at (214) 383-0623 or visit our website at aaphysicaltherapy.com. We can help you find the cause and remedy your headaches and neck pain.
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