When you have a tension headache, your primary goal is to stop the pain. Unfortunately, you might be working toward this goal far more often than you’d like.
Medical research reports that 96% of us will experience a headache in our lifetime. Your tension headaches can even become more frequent if you can’t figure out what’s causing them. A physical therapist can help you learn the cause of your headaches. They can also help you find effective treatment for your tension headaches.
What are tension headaches?
Your physical therapist can help you understand more about tension headaches as part of your treatment plan. Tension headaches are the most common type of headache in adults and teens.
They occur when the neck and scalp muscles contract or become tense, and they can happen at any age. This type of headache often appears as a result of:
- Poor posture
- Increased stress
- Neck or jaw problems
- Fatigue
- Cervical arthritis
- Anxiety
- Depression
Three goals your physical therapist can set for your tension headache treatment
The end goal of physical therapy-based tension headache treatment is pain reduction. But there are some other important goals your plan might need to meet along the way. Specifically, your physical therapist will want to set goals such as:
- Improving your posture — Your posture throughout the day greatly impacts your level of pain. Poor posture also increases the likelihood of tension headaches. Your physical therapist can teach you methods of improving your posture. This can help reduce pain and your future risk of tension headaches.
- Improving neck movement — Another goal you and your physical therapist can strive to meet is increasing your neck mobility. One technique that can help with this is manual therapy. Using it, your physical therapist can stretch the muscles in the back of your neck, which can decrease pain and increase movement.
- Increasing neck stability — Strengthening your neck muscles can help improve cervical spine stability. Your physical therapist can help you learn exercises to help strengthen the muscles of your neck. In turn, this can help you to maintain better head and neck posture.
Turn to Border Therapy Services for highly effective tension headache treatment
Keen to try tension headache treatment from a physical therapist? Our physical therapists at Border Therapy Services are ready and willing to start your treatment. We offer free screenings intended to pinpoint the source of your headaches. Furthermore, our team excels at building personalized therapy plans intended to reduce headache symptoms.
Not up to leaving home for an in-person appointment? No problem! You’ll be excited to know that we offer therapy services you can use from home, including virtual care and at-home therapy sessions. In addition, you can start using our therapy services even if you don’t yet have a doctor’s recommendation.
Don’t wait to start getting our help with your headaches. Contact us today for more information about our helpful therapy services or to schedule an initial appointment.