Headaches Treatment & Prevention – Part 3

Having looked at how to describe and classify headaches & migraines in my introduction, I then moved on to look at how massage can help sufferers in part 1. Then in part 2 I looked at how nutrition and Bowen technique could help.  I want to continue to explore the impact of complementary therapies on headaches.

Cranio-Sacral Therapy

Cranio-sacral therapy is a system of alternative medicine intended to relieve pain and tension by gentle manipulations of the skull regarded as harmonizing with a natural rhythm in the central nervous system.

Cranio-sacral therapists suspect the occipito-atlanteal junction at the top of the neck may contribute to the cause of headaches especially migraines.  If the first vertebrae and the occipital condyles at the base of the skull become jammed together or fixed, which effects the vagus nerves, throwing the parasympathetic nervous system into dysfunction.  Cranio-sacral therapists report releasing the occipital condyles nearly always results in the reduction of migraines patterns in clients.

Acupuncture

Acupuncture is a treatment derived from ancient Chinese medicine in which fine needles are inserted at certain sites in the body for therapeutic or preventative purposes.  There is some scientific evidence acupuncture has a beneficial effect on headaches and migraines (see >> http://www.nhs.uk/Conditions/Acupuncture/Pages/Evidence.aspx)

Related Posts

  • What causes my muscles to knot?

    What are knots:

    • Muscle knots are points within a muscle where contracted fibers are unable to relax.
    • The dictionary is: “highly irritable localized spots of exquisite tenderness in a nodule in palpable taunt bands of muscle tissue.”
    • The medical term for muscle knots is myofascial trigger points.
    Knots are thought to be caused by the building up of protein after the release of lactic acid. Knots cause pain in two ways:
    • Active An active trigger point or knot is one that actively refers pain either locally or via nerve pathways to another location in the body.  Active trigger points are the one that clients are aware of and cause them to book to see a masseur.
    • Latent A latent trigger point is one that isn’t painful until pressure is applied to it.  This is when clients come to me and they find that during the massage they feel pain that they hadn’t felt before the treatment.
    How can I prevent knots? Occasional knots are inevitable, but if you get a lot of them it is worth considering the following
    • Your posture
    • Your potassium and calcium levels as both help to prevent knots
    • Being dehydrated doesn’t help
    • Your posture
    • Stretching may help release knots
    How can I release knots? If you didn’t manage to prevent knots you then need to consider how to release them.
    • To self-treat a muscular knot put a tennis ball in a sock (it makes it easier to hold on to the ball), simply place the tennis ball in the sock against either a wall or the floor and then press the part of your body with the knot on to it and move your body up and down.
    • As an alternative, you could apply a deep, stroking massage directly to the muscle knot.
    • The alternative is to visit a masseur.
     

  • Why sometimes you need light pressure in a massage not just deep tissue?

    Our instinct as humans when we feel tight and stiff is to feel we just need someone to just get into the muscles.  By" get into the muscles", [...]

  • Sleep

    This week the press seem to be full of articles on sleep, ranging from recent research to the reasons why we lose sleep - the top reason being a heavy workload. I am sure that most people reading this blog post know that if they have a good night’s sleep they wake up feeling refreshed.  So the recent discovery by scientists from University of Wisconsin which shows sleep restores your brain will be of no surprise.  (For any geeks out there the research showed that sleep boosts myelin which is essential in the growth and repair of our brains.  The research also revealed that deep sleep doubles the rate of reproduction of some cells.)  While over in Stockholm researchers have discovered that people think sleep deprived individuals “look sad, unhealthy and unattractive”.   For anyone that is struggling to get a good night’s sleep knowing science has proved that they look as awful as they feel isn’t exactly helpful either!  So I wanted to share a few tips with you on getting a good night’s sleep.

    • Try to go to bed and get up at the same time as bodies like routine and it will help you sleep better.
    • Ensure your bedroom is quiet, dark, restful and the right temperature i.e. not to hot and not to cold. Remember it isn’t ideal to watch TV or work in your bedroom that includes trying to sleep while keeping one eye on your blackberry.
    • Try to mentally and physically relax before going to bed by turning of the TV or computer and having a warm bath, listen to some relaxing music, read a book or simply sip a cup of Chamomile tea.
    • Valerian is a dietary supplement that has been used since ancient times to help with a good nights sleep as it is known for combat insomnia and nervousness.
    • While exercise is great to combat stress, exercising too close to bedtime can actually make it harder to sleep.
    • It is best to avoid alcohol before your go to bed as for some people it will interrupt their sleep pattern later in the night.
    • It is best to avoid coffee from later afternoon onwards as for some people it will keeps them awake.
    Finally some of my clients have reports that Reflexology has helped them by because they find they sleep deeper and hence wake up more refreshed.