Our headache assessment and treatment approach is suitable for many different headache types. We can liaise with your doctor to ensure you are receiving safe and effective coordinated care."
Who Do We Treat?
Physiotherapy treatment can be helpful for migraine and other types of headache, when muscle and joint factors contribute to the headache. This can happen through a sensitisation of the brain stem caused by ongoing neck problems. Sensitivity in the trigemino-cervical nucleus of the brain stem is thought to lessen your threshold to triggers of your migraine. Restoring optimal neck function through thorough assessment, and appropriate treatment can therefore help to reduce this sensitivity.
What Causes a Headache?
It is common knowledge within the medical sciences that neck disorders can cause headache.
Specifically, neck problems can cause referred pain to the head, so that even though the problem is in the neck, the pain can be felt in the head. This phenomenon is attributed to the converging/joining pathways of nerves of the upper neck, with the trigeminal nerve (which is in the head). This condition is generally referred to as Cervicogenic headache.
Cervicogenic headache usually presents with pain just on one side of the head with associated neck discomfort. There may even be a restriction or tightness in your neck movements, such as noticing it is harder or sore turning your head to the side. It can also be aggravated by activities which are performed in poor posture, especially for prolonged periods, such as sitting at a desk or computer.
Like any musculoskeletal pain, the problem can also be amplified by stress, anxiety and fear.
Treatment for Cervicogenic headache is usually very effective, and can involve manual therapy to the tight joints, massage to muscles but also exercises to strengthen and improve function of the muscles which are dysfunctional from poor postural patterns. It may also be necessary to discuss your posture, especially related to the activities you perform regularly whether it be sitting at a computer, driving, running or cycling. We can even use video or photographic analysis of these activities to ensure that you are performing them at your best.
Specifically, neck problems can cause referred pain to the head, so that even though the problem is in the neck, the pain can be felt in the head. This phenomenon is attributed to the converging/joining pathways of nerves of the upper neck, with the trigeminal nerve (which is in the head). This condition is generally referred to as Cervicogenic headache.
Cervicogenic headache usually presents with pain just on one side of the head with associated neck discomfort. There may even be a restriction or tightness in your neck movements, such as noticing it is harder or sore turning your head to the side. It can also be aggravated by activities which are performed in poor posture, especially for prolonged periods, such as sitting at a desk or computer.
Like any musculoskeletal pain, the problem can also be amplified by stress, anxiety and fear.
Treatment for Cervicogenic headache is usually very effective, and can involve manual therapy to the tight joints, massage to muscles but also exercises to strengthen and improve function of the muscles which are dysfunctional from poor postural patterns. It may also be necessary to discuss your posture, especially related to the activities you perform regularly whether it be sitting at a computer, driving, running or cycling. We can even use video or photographic analysis of these activities to ensure that you are performing them at your best.
What Causes Migraines?
There are many different types of Headache listed in the medical literature (up to 300!). In addition to Cervicogenic Headache outlined above, the other very common type of Headache is called Migraine. Although many people refer to any severe headache as a Migraine, there are specific symptoms that define it, and in fact there are several categories and sub classifications in the medical texts. Although it is beyond the scope of this website to describe all of them in great detail, we hope that you find the following information helpful.
Migraine typically involves a severe pain (usually throbbing) on one side of the head, and often has associated symptoms such as nausea, dizziness, photophobia or photophonia. The pain can be preceded by aura, which is a visual disturbances such has fading vision, tunnel vision or flashing light patterns in the visual field on the same side of the headache.
Migraine can sometimes have a specific trigger such as dietary, smell, stress/emotional and also hormone levels (such as Oestrogen in Menstrual Migraine). Other headache types including Tension Type Headache, are also quite common.
For more information on the treatment of migraine and other headache types click here.
Migraine typically involves a severe pain (usually throbbing) on one side of the head, and often has associated symptoms such as nausea, dizziness, photophobia or photophonia. The pain can be preceded by aura, which is a visual disturbances such has fading vision, tunnel vision or flashing light patterns in the visual field on the same side of the headache.
Migraine can sometimes have a specific trigger such as dietary, smell, stress/emotional and also hormone levels (such as Oestrogen in Menstrual Migraine). Other headache types including Tension Type Headache, are also quite common.
For more information on the treatment of migraine and other headache types click here.
Other Types of Headache?
It is also possible that more than one headache type are occurring at the same time, and they could possibly amplifying each other. In this case, treating the neck and associated factors can lead to an improvement in both headache types.