Headaches
It’s now February, and the fun and festivities of the Holidays are over, and we’re back into the hodge podge of every day life.
We all lead such busy and stressful lives these days, squeezing as much into our days as possible, and never really taking any time to relax.
This increases our stress levels, and in turn creates one of the most common ailments of our generation.
Headaches.
There are several different types of headaches that we can experience when one hits, and several factors which can cause them:
Tension Headaches:
- Poor posture, close work under poor lighting conditions, or cramps from assuming an unnatural head or neck position for long periods of time
- Arthritis, particularly cervical arthritis
- Abnormalities in neck muscles, bones or discs
- Eye strain caused when one eye is compensating for another eye’s weakness
- Misalignment of teeth or jaws
- Noise or lighting
- Depression, Sadness and Grieving
Migraines:
- Stress
- Fatigue
- Oversleeping or lack of sleep
- Fasting or missing a meal
- Food or medication that affects the diameter of blood vessels.
- Caffeine
- Chocolate
- Alcohol
- Menses
- Hormonal changes
- Changes in barometric pressure
- Changes in altitude
- Dietary attributes: Additives and Tyramine
Hormonal Headaches and Cluster headaches are additional headache types that you may suffer.
Hormonal headaches occur before your period and is associated with a variety of symptoms that distinguish it from the typical menstrual headache.
The symptoms include headache pain accompanied by fatigue, acne, joint pain, decreased urination, constipation and lack of coordination.
You may also experience an increase in appetite and a craving for chocolate, salt, or alcohol.
PMS sufferers may also complain of fear, panic attacks, decreased sexual desire, impaired judgment or memory, sensitivity to rejection and even paranoia. These symptoms usually disappear when menstruation begins.
Unlike migraine headaches, cluster headaches are not hereditory. But sufferers usually do have a history of chronic smoking, and alcohol use, which frequently triggers a cluster headache.
Because the level of histamine increases in a person’s blood and urine during a cluster headache, many researchers believe that histamines, which dilate or expand blood vessels, influence a cluster headache. Antihistamines have not proven, however, to be effective therapy.
Trigger points
The main Trigger Point region involved with headaches is the Sternocleidomastoid (SCM)
The following graffic shows the Trigger points on the SCM (the black dots) and the areas where you will feel pain (the red areas).
- SCM Headaches
This Image shows how you can attempt to relieve yourself of headaches in the areas where the red colour has spread.
By applying firm pressure to the black dots of this muscle, you can effectively reduce headache pain, and sometimes completely alleviate it
but doing so can take time and practice, so dont get frustrated if it doesnt feel like it’s working.
Just move along to another spot, and try again.
I would recommend holding pressure on these trigger points for about 10-15 seconds before moving on to the next spot.
You can also pinch this muscle between your thumb and forefinger, applying pressure in a slow small circular motion to help gain relief from headaches.
There are several other trigger points which can be attributed to headaches, including the Erectors, Scalenes and the Upper Trapezius.
Treatments
Massage is a great treatment recommendation for Headaches as it not only addresses the muscular causes of headaches, but also offers you the downtime to relax and get some stress relief.
It also increases the “feel good” hormones in your body which can reduce any emotional causes.
Dietary changes can also help reduce the instance of headaches, including increasing your water intake and reducing your sugar and processed food intake.
Dehydration can be a major cause of headaches, so it is important that you consume at least half of your body weight (in lbs) of water (in oz) per day.
For example, if you weigh 160lbs, it would be recommended that you consume at least 80 oz of water per day, every day to ensure that your body has sufficient fluids to not only perform
it’s daily functions, but also to ensure that your waste removal processes are functioning correctly.
Do you have your eyesight checked regularly?
Eyestrain and an incorrect prescription can cause regular headaches, so ensuring that your vision is healthy is important.
Some books which you may find interesting for the alternative treatment of headaches are:
Clair Davies and his Daughter Amber are the leading Trigger Point experts in the Industry.
This pook offers amazing advice on not only self treatment for headaches but other ailments which can be attributed to Trigger Points.
