Most of us are familiar with the occasional headache, but if you live with frequent and long-lasting headaches, you’re probably looking for a solution. Headaches can affect you for a number of reasons, but in many cases, they are caused by weakness and tension in the muscles of your neck and face.

There are a range of treatments for headaches, but when you’re dealing with headaches related to tension and weakness, you can benefit from the help of a physical therapist.

Treating headaches with physical therapy

One of the primary goals of physical therapy for headaches is to reduce tension and improve strength in the neck and face muscles. There are a variety of methods that physical therapists can use to address these issues. Treatments are always personalized to the needs of each individual, but generally, you can expect treatment to include: 

• Stretching and exercising — Your physical therapist can guide you through gentle stretches and exercises designed to target specific muscles related to your pain and stiffness. Improving the strength and flexibility of these muscles helps reduce strain off your spine, which reduces pressure on the nerves running through your neck into your head.
• Hands-on therapy — Your physical therapist can use their hands to gently mobilize and maneuver your soft tissue and joints in specific ways to help reduce pain and improve your range of motion. Hands-on therapy can also help break down scar tissue. Scar tissue is tough, fibrous tissue that forms after an injury. If you have scar tissue in your neck, it could be putting painful pressure on your nerves and causing headaches.
• Posture guidance — One of the main reasons people have pain and tension in their neck muscles and spine is because of poor posture. Hunching forward and slouching strains the muscles and causes more pressure to build up on your spine. This causes pressure to build on the nerves, which leads to frequent headache pain.

  Your physical therapist can examine your posture and help you make improvements that can reduce and prevent headaches.

Visit Continuum Wellness for headache treatment

Are you tired of suffering from long-lasting and frequent headaches because of tension in your face muscles or neck? Our physical therapists at Continuum Wellness can provide a personalized treatment to help you reduce and prevent your pain. Contact our team today for more information about treating headaches or to schedule an initial appointment.