Headaches / Migraines

Headaches in most cases originate from dysfunction of the muscles in the neck, shoulders, jaw and head. Once you get a few muscles in these areas triggering their pain referral patterns, we identify this pain collectively as a headache. There are many types of headaches, tension, sinus, cluster, rebound/withdrawal and migraines.

Tension headaches are the most commonly experienced and are a directly linked with myofascial trigger points that can develop in the muscles of the neck, shoulders, jaw and head, The headache pain often can be triggered by dehydration, stress, strenuous activity, poor posture, overheating, which can all activate trigger points. The pain experienced can vary from mild to quite intense although they often don't prevent you from daily tasks, the pain is often described as a constant ache or feeling of pressure around head and is often felt greater in either the eyes, temples or back or top of the head.  

Migraine headaches can be quite debilitating and often will affect an individual in other ways than just causing pain, people often feel nausea and can become hypersensitive to light and or sound, Migraines typically have three phases of symptoms, the initial warning indicator that you are about to experience a migraine is known as an aura or prodrome, that affects your vision presenting as blurred and spotty vision that can last for a few minutes to up to an hour generally. The next phase is the pain phase that is normally more intense on one side at a time, the pain can come in waves of intense throbbing type pain, often the pain makes you feel nauseated and some people feel better once they do throw up, this can last for 20 minutes to up to 8 hours generally. The last phase is a post headache / hangover phase that leaves you feeling wiped out and can often have a residual dull headache, this can last up to 24 hours after the Migraine.

Cluster headaches are a rare type of headache that are categorised by a series of attacks causing an excruciating amount of pain that often is experienced into one eye and into head and face of the same side, often accompanied by a runny nose and watery bloodshot eye, there is clinically no cure to these headaches although they can be managed to a point that allows the sufferer to live relatively symptom free throughout a cycle.