Ever experienced this? Sitting and working for a long time and feeling that “headache” always flares up! This headache is not only caused by work-related stress, but prolonged muscle tension is also one of the factors that can cause headaches. If not treated properly, it may lead to chronic headaches… affecting sleep and daily life.
Heavy use of neck and shoulder muscles can cause headaches!
Although headaches can be caused by many reasons, one of the most common causes is headaches from muscle tension in the neck and shoulders. This is often found in patients with high stress, lack of exercise and self-care, or those who heavily use their neck and shoulder muscles, such as patients with prolonged stress, resulting in radiating pain around the skull. There may be pain on one side or both sides of the head, along with pain around the eye sockets.
Patients who do not receive proper treatment may experience worsening pain, radiating pain, and muscle tension from the neck, shoulders, and shoulders. Some may experience numbness in the fingertips. Although this type of headache is not severe, it significantly disrupts daily life and can increase the patient’s stress.
Assessment process… identifying the cause of “headache”
If the doctor assesses that the headache is not caused by cerebrovascular abnormalities or vertigo, another differential diagnosis is to ask the patient about daily life behaviors, such as sitting with improper posture, maintaining muscle tension in the neck, shoulders, or shoulders for a long time, lack of regular exercise, or work-related stress. These factors can cause headaches along with muscle tension in the neck, shoulders, and back.
Physical therapy! One of the treatments for headaches caused by muscle tension
Physical therapy may be an option for patients with headaches caused by abnormal tension in the neck and shoulder muscles because it helps relax the muscles in the neck, shoulders, and shoulders, improving blood circulation balance in these areas. This reduces headache symptoms and includes posture adjustment to prevent recurrence or worsening of symptoms.
Treatment steps for headaches with physical therapy
Reducing muscle tension with physical therapy tools includes deep heat waves or electrical stimulation to promote blood circulation and muscle relaxation. Compared to massage, which patients are familiar with, this method relaxes muscles precisely without tendon or muscle pain after therapy.
After muscle relaxation, the physical therapist will stretch the muscles with appropriate postures for each muscle group to restore normal muscle condition. When blood circulation in the neck and shoulders is balanced, headache symptoms will ease. For patients with headaches caused by muscle tension, symptoms improve immediately from the first treatment! Each session lasts about 1 to 1 1/2 hours.
After treatment with physical therapy tools, patients will be advised on muscle stretching exercises to help relax and strengthen muscles, as well as posture adjustments suitable for work or daily life to relieve headaches that may recur due to muscle tension in the neck, shoulders, and shoulders.
Which patients should not undergo physical therapy treatment
Although physical therapy is a safe method, there are precautions for the following patient groups…
- Patients who have not been properly diagnosed to identify the cause of their headache Although physical therapy can help relax and reduce headache symptoms somewhat, treating the root cause will help patients recover from headaches correctly and safely.
- Patients who have experienced an accident with injuries to the shoulders and neck along with headaches should be clearly diagnosed to distinguish whether the problem is related to bones or muscles to ensure appropriate and safe physical therapy treatment.
- Patients with fever and muscle pain should recover from the fever first before treatment.
