After receiving diagnosis and learning the cause of your headache, doctors will consider treatment based on its cause. For treating primary headaches like migraine or headaches caused by tense muscles, there are 2 different approaches, namely, the medicative and non-medicative approaches.
Physical therapy is a non-medicative approach for treating headache patients.
As for the principle for use of physical therapy tools for headache patients with neck pain symptoms, the goal is to reduce stiffness of the muscles at the base of the neck. Normally, patients who experience frequent headaches also experience pain at the base of the neck on both sides. That being said, most physical therapy tools are heating tools, for example, heat pad compresses, followed by ultrasound massage and hand massage at sites where the muscles are tense. After the muscles at the base of the neck begin to relax, blood circulation to the brain will improve, thereby alleviating neck pain symptoms and potentially providing headache relief. However, the results significantly depend on the patient’s condition.
Receive symptom assessments for accurate treatment.
In order to ensure that physical therapy creates maximum benefits for each patient, the physical therapist in the initial stages will interview the patient’s history and perform a physical examination to assess symptoms based on the location of the headache along with the nature of movements and postures that are causing the headache, for example, if the headache occurred before neck pain or if neck pain occurred before the headache, etc. in order to consider the progression of the condition along with the severity and site of the disease before choosing a physical therapy method for each patient.
- A hot pack is applied to promote circulation and muscle relaxation.
- Ultrasound therapy is a treatment that uses high-frequency sound waves to reduce pain symptoms and tissue inflammation while enhancing joint flexibility on the deep level to reduce swelling and promote tissue repair, in addition to relaxing the muscles.
- Aerobic exercises like fast walking, running, swimming and aerobic dancing for 3 minutes per session for at least 30 minutes per week and self-care can be pursued by following the doctor’s recommendations such as by finding ways to manage and deal with one’s own stress to relax the mind and let go and to sleep peacefully while avoiding headache triggers and exercising regularly.
