Tension headaches can literally be debilitating. We all know the symptoms: It may start with some neck soreness or pain at the base of the skull. The pain creeps up the back of the head and makes its way over to your ears, then to what feels like directly behind your eyes or forehead. Many of us immediately head for the bottle of "pain relievers” or a cold pack to put on our forehead. In this piece, we'll address the source of this pain and what to do about it.
Neck muscles that run from the upper and middle neck down to the lower neck and shoulder blades are usually the initial cause of tension headaches. There are various muscles that can contribute to the pain, but the ones that connect the upper neck to the shoulder blade (levator scapula and upper trapezius) and smaller muscles that connect the first two vertebrae to the skull (suboccipital muscles) are the major culprits. When one set gets irritated, the other quickly follows. Once the small set is irritated their reflex is to tighten up, causing the nerve at the back of the head that travels up the skull to be inflamed. This causes the trademark symptoms of a headache with which we are all familiar.
Advertisement
Either set of muscles can be irritated by increased tension caused by the muscle being too stretched, or too contracted or tight. Most of us don’t differentiate between the two and think that stretching is the answer. But that may only be half the answer.
Generally, stretching the small upper set of muscles is alright, but the long ones connected to the shoulder blade are usually overstretched already. Stretching them more might not help, but rather make the pain worse. If your thumb was being held back, you wouldn't try to stretch it back more to make the pain go away, would you? Most likely, you would try to get rid of the tension. The same is true for the upper trapezius and levator scapula; strengthening is the answer.
On the next page, learn simple exercises that can help relieve tension headaches.
Advertisement