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Neck Pain Headache.Treatment for Headaches and Neck Pain.When treating your neck pain headache, please realise that many headaches are mis-diagnosed as Migraines.People go months taking medications to ease their headache. However, once the correct cause is identified, a few physiotherapy sessions often resolves their headaches for good! I get great satisfaction from treating neck-related headaches! The simple reason? Great results and a happy smile on my clients face. The first thing I want to share with you is that so many headaches are, in my opinion, mis-diagnosed as Migraines. People go months, if not years, taking strong medications to ease their headaches. However, if the correct cause is identified, a few simple physiotherapy sessions can often resolve their headaches forever! Neck-related headaches can trick you! Commonly, a client can present to my clinic with a severe headache and with a history of neck pain or neck stiffness. Rarely have my clients linked the two before arriving at my clinic. This does not imply that all headaches are neck-related, but my opinion is that the neck should always be ruled out. Attend a Physiotherapist with a training in the treatment of neck-related headaches to eliminate this simple possibility before you decide on any long term treatment or medication - or at least discuss this possibility with your doctor. Most doctors will appreciate this connection and investigate it before embarking on other forms of treatment. 
So, how is neck pain related to headaches?
The upper neck (known anatomically as C0/1) can refer pain into your forehead and upper head. This is a nerve referral (similar to sciatica in your leg where a nerve in your lower back refers pain down the back or side of your leg). In these situations, re-aligning or mobilising this joint often alleviates your headache.  The muscles of your upper back attach into the base of your skull.
If they become tight they can pull your upper neck joints into compression causing headaches.
This type of headache is very common in office workers and drivers with poor posture and "chin poke".
Such clients may end up wearing glasses as they associate their headaches with the brightness of the screen as opposed to the true cause -
their own posture as they sit and work at their computer.
Another common cause occurs when you are stressed - and often end up clenching your jaw at night in your sleep. This can result in muscles in your neck and face becoming tight - resulting again in a headache. Clients in this situation frequently ends up being treated with bite guards provided by their dentists to alleviate the clenching. However, often simple stretches could alone, or in conjunction with the bite guard alleviate can your headache quicker and more effectively. Treatment of mechanical headaches involves mobilising the tightened muscles, ligaments and joints. With my own clients, I then educate them on postural positions and posture exercises that will prevent these structures from tightening up again. 
Prevention is always better than cure, so posture correction and education in my opinion is a must for us all,
especially if we have work sitting down for an extended period of time.
Recently, a 75 year old man attended me with a twenty year history of intermittent severe headaches. He reported that they were aggravated by stress and his doctor had been treating him with medication for years. He reported losing days of his life each month as a result of his headaches. After assessing him I realised he was severely restricted in both the joint and muscle mobility of his upper neck. After his first physiotherapy/craniosacral therapy session his headache has gone. He telephoned me six weeks later to inform me that he had had no headaches since this date. Although this manÂ’s headaches may return, at least he now realises that they can be treated manually and successfully without drugs. Now that's a story that brings a smile to my face! Ultimately, I suggest that you seek the advice of an open-minded doctor, physiotherapist and dentist before deciding on the long term management (or just putting up with it!) of your neck-related headaches. This will ensure that you will find the least invasive approach to the management of your neck pain headaches. A lady called Jenny recently came to me complaining of pain at the base of her skull and over the right side of her forehead. It was a constant pain but was significantly worse at the end of the day and when she was sitting down. When I questioned Jenny, she remembered knocking her forehead on the frame of a door some weeks previously - Jenny is over six foot tall! Although she felt no neck or head pain at the time her headache started two days later, so she correctly associated her headaches with this accident. When I assessed Jenny's neck she had a restriction in her movement when turning to the right. Looking at Jenny's sitting posture - she sat with her chin poked up slightly and her shoulders rounded too much. I am never happy with poor posture! When I palpated Jenny's neck a facet joint at the top right side of her neck was very stiff and the muscles around the base of her neck were very tight. I was able to intensify her headache when I palpated the stiffened joint. This helped me confirm my diagnosis for Jenny's headaches. At this stage my impression was that Jenny had knocked her neck out of alignment when she hit her head off the wall. Secondary to that her neck muscles had become overactive and tight in response to it. Because Jenny's sitting posture was bad, when she was sitting more pressure was being placed on her injured neck and hence her pain worsened. By the end of the day her neck was tired - and as a result was unable to hold her head effectively so her symptoms appeared worse. Your head is the heaviest part of your body after all!! I treated Jenny on three occasions to loosen her neck and soften her overactive muscles. Her headache had disappeared after the first session. However, I encouraged Jenny to have two more sessions to ensure the cause of her headache had been fully removed. Removing the cause of pain is always the key to a lasting success. Jenny now attends a weekly Pilates class with me with the aim of improving her posture. Well done Jenny! Return from Neck Pain Headache to Neck Pain Relief Return from Neck Pain Headache to Back Pain Relief Home |
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