A fitness-forward approach to treat headaches
Headaches are a condition that is commonly associated with disability and a decrease in overall quality of life. Unfortunately, they are often not properly managed, with many healthcare providers relying solely on pharmaceutical treatments that are ultimately ineffective.
It is crucial to address this issue and provide alternative solutions for individuals who suffer from headaches — an area of medical care that is currently undergoing extensive research. There are a few different kinds of headaches, including Migraines, Tension-Type Headaches, and Cluster Headaches.
What we’ll focus on more specifically in this article is Cervicogenic Headaches.
A headache from cervicogenic origin means that there is an impairment at the cervical spine, usually aggravated with movement, and may present in a “ram’s horn” pattern from your neck to your eye. There is often unilateral vertebral hypomobility (stiffness on one side of the upper segments of the neck). This contributes to muscle/tissue imbalances, resulting in inflammation that surrounds the base of the skull and first few vertebrae. This inflammatory process affects the surrounding muscle groups (sub-occipitals and extensor muscles of the neck), and the nerve roots that exit the spine at this level, which send pain signals that refer over the skull and to regions of the face.
The literature best supports methods of manual therapy to treat symptoms of cervicogenic headache. Through means of mobilizations and manipulation, we will target the structures of the upper cervical spine to improve joint movement and reduce muscle stress. While these skilled, trained techniques may be directed at unilateral structures and are in pursuit of reducing symptoms and improving activity tolerance, the maintenance of these affects comes from the rest of your customized Physical Therapy care plan… designed to encourage an integration to an active lifestyle.
Our Approach:
Identify causes — Are you an active individual? We will assess your movement patterns during these sports/activities to observe for movement or loading-related contributions to the impairments we observed. This approach applies to non-active individuals as well, by addressing sustained postures/ positions, and other lifestyle factors.
Retrain movement patterns — As movement experts, we will work with you to re-train these movement patterns to optimize your loading strategies. Strengthening positions of the head and neck with upper cervical flexion and lower cervical retraction (think, “chin tuck and push back” posture), with emphasis on upper back/ scapular muscles, is key. Get ready for some planks, sled pushes, rowing, deadlifting, and more, as the possibilities are endless to train these positions while applying them to a multitude of movement contexts!
Encourage exercise — Facilitating your involvement in aerobic activity, as we continue to manage symptoms from the spinal level, will set you up for success moving forward in your active life!
Here’s the bottom line — We want to approach this from MORE than just a symptom-management perspective. We want to help you promote an active lifestyle! While pain is the most significant factor to address, as it contributes most to disability in these conditions, our therapy doesn’t stop there. We will work to address the mechanical problems at hand, while promoting appropriate postures/ movement patterns, all while facilitating an integration to an active lifestyle without being held back by headaches!
We would be happy to discuss further how Loon State Physical Therapy can be a teammate in getting you back to moving and feeling your best! Our convenient Minneapolis physical therapy, Edina physical therapy, and Stillwater physical therapy locations will happily welcome you to get you back to moving at your best. Call us at (612) 405-8503 or book with us online at www.loonstatephysicaltherapy.com for an in-person or virtual appointment.
We look forward to being your teammate through this journey!
J Orthop Sports Phys Ther 2017;47(7):A1-A83. doi:10.2519/jospt.2017.0302
