There’s Nothing Pretty About Them: Tension Headaches

By: Kelsie Mazur, DPT

Tension headaches (a specific type of primary headache) are characterized by a dull, achy pain that often feels like a band around the head. They can be episodic or chronic and may be accompanied by sensitivity to light and sound. Tension headaches are of the most common forms of headaches. They can occur due to repetitive motions, clinching of the jaw while asleep or stressed, or poor posture in the neck and or head.

If you’ve read any of my other blog posts, you know that I love to talk about the nervous system. It is literally the reason why we even “feel” a headache! That being said, tension headaches happen because of a strain on the “dura mater,” which is a sensitive membrane around the brain. The dura mater lies close to small muscles at the base of the skull that goes into spasm when the dura mater becomes strained, thus sending pain signals to the brain and BOOM! Your day is ruined and you, my friend, have a headache.

Typically, a person would reach for an over the counter pain medication to block the pain sensation your nervous system is alerting from the headache. However, those with tension headaches know that these pesky buggers are frequent, even daily sometimes. They can be very challenging to get rid of because the headache is a direct response of your posture, stress, lack of sleep, and muscle imbalances. In other words, it’s important to realize these headaches don't just appear out of nowhere. They can affect anyone and everyone. Not every “body” is the same, and no two people present the same symptoms with tension headaches. As the resident physical therapist at Wattage, I understand the frustration and burden headaches can have on a person. Although frustrating, it's important to know that Physical therapy can be a huge help in relieving tension headaches. That’s right, at Wattage we use a multi-modal approach to attack tension headaches (Head on!) to make the body more resilient.

Physical Therapy at Wattage is person-specific, not just symptom based! We believe only attacking the symptoms means you’ll never fully solve the problem. If you only focus on symptoms, you’ll need to rely on temporary “solutions” forever. Instead of being in a constant negative feedback loop, we will take an in depth look at your ergonomics, posture, muscle tone, muscle weaknesses, and movement patterns via a whole-body diagnostic exam. If you’ve had trouble with tension headaches, neck pain, or shoulder pain, directly email me at Kelsie@wattagept.com. I would be happy to discuss how to live a life free from tension headaches!