BALANCE IN MOTION BODYWORK
Santa Barbara Massage & Pain Therapy
What are the causes of headaches and migraines?
There are two types of headaches: primary headaches and secondary headaches. Primary headaches are not associated with (caused by) other diseases. Examples of primary headaches are migraine headaches, tension headaches, and cluster headaches. Secondary headaches are caused by associated disease. The associated disease may be minor or serious and life threatening.
Primary Headaches
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Tension headaches are the most common type of primary headache; as many as 90% of adults have had or will have tension headaches. Tension headaches are more common among women than men.
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Migraine headaches are the second most common type of primary headache. An estimated 28 million people in the United States (about 12% of the population) will experience migraine headaches. Migraine headaches affect children as well as adults. Before puberty, boys and girls are affected equally by migraine headaches, but after puberty, more women than men are affected. An estimated 6% of men and up to 18% of women will experience a migraine headache.
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Cluster headaches are a rare type of primary headache, affecting 0.1% of the population. An estimated 85% of cluster headache sufferers are men. The average age of cluster headache sufferers is 28-30 years, although headaches may begin in childhood.
Headache and Migraines
Secondary Headaches
Secondary headaches have diverse causes, ranging from serious and life threatening conditions such as brain tumors, strokes, meningitis, and subarachnoid hemorrhages to less serious but common conditions such as withdrawal from caffeine and discontinuation of analgesics. Many people suffer from "mixed" headache disorders in which tension headaches or secondary headaches trigger migraine headaches.
Not only is there a connection between poor posture and headache frequency, and there is also a definite association between neck pain and both migraine and tension-type headaches. Our heads are like a 10-pound bowling bowl that sits on a much smaller base, our neck. If it’s not balanced correctly, the head can aggravate the cervical spine and trigger muscle tension and tightness. This can lead to spasms or the development of headaches.
There are two major groupings of nerves that affect the head and upper torso. When tight muscles impinge on these nerves, it can lead to headaches; breathing difficulties; and/or neck, shoulder, chest, arm, wrist or hand pain. In other words, sometimes the area where you feel the pain may not be the actual source of the pain (see Trigger Points and Trigger Point Referral Patterns). For example, tightness at the base of your skull may be affecting nerve flow that you feel as a headache or as pain in your shoulder or upper arm. The majority of all headaches and migraines are caused by six little muscles located at the base of your skull, the suboccipital muscles. They can become so tight that they start to cause all kinds of physiological changes in your body that you ultimately perceive as pain.
Medical Massage Treatment
The good news is that your therapeutic massage sessions can help to get rid of your headache and migraine. Massage therapy is applied to balance your neck, upper back and shoulders muscles and sometimes to the facial muscles. I use a combination of different massage techniques that will give you the relief you need. Your therapeutic massage treatment is custom designed for you because we apply pressure and specific techniques that are unique only for your body.