Headaches Treatment & Prevention – Part 3

Postural muscles are also referred to as core stability muscles, are found deep in the body. The first muscles that typically come to mind with posture are the muscles along the spine. The erector spinae muscles run along the bones of your spine, the vertebrae, from your neck all the way to your tailbone. These muscles hold the spine in extension or upright, counteracting the pull of gravity. Abdominal muscles support the structures at the front of your trunk, balancing the pull of your back extensors. The quadratus luborum muscles at the top of your pelvis help stabilize the pelvis and spine in the lower back in an upright position. The purpose of postural muscles is to keep good posture in the field of gravity. These muscles consist mostly of slow-twitch muscle fibres and have a greater capacity for prolonged use but are prone to over working. This means if you have poor posture or you have long periods of sitting immobile your postural muscles get tired and they become weak and less efficient. The longer the situation continues the more likely you are to develop postural imbalances and they finally you get knots and pain!

Counting sheep is the age old method of falling to sleep, but does it really work? Those finding hard to sleep often seek distraction and some distractions work better than others, a team at Oxford University has found.   Researchers have discovered that picturing an engaging scene takes up more brain space than the same old sheep.  In addition it is easier to focus on an engaging scene because its way more interesting that sheep. Harvey and her colleague Suzanna Payne asked 50 insomniacs to try different distraction techniques on certain nights, to see which helped them fall asleep more quickly. One group conjured up a tranquil and relaxing scene such as a waterfall or being on holiday, while a second were asked to think of a distraction such as counting sheep. A third group were left to their own devices. On average, those picturing a relaxing scene fell asleep over 20 minutes earlier than on nights they didn’t try the technique. But both the sheep-counters and the controls took slightly longer than normal to fall asleep on the nights of the experiment.  The researches concluded that counting sheep is just too mundane to effectively keep worries away. If you find it difficult to conjure up vivid visulisations, aromatherapy may help.  A few drops of lavendar, chamomile or neroli essential oils may assist you to relax and unwide, and counjure up tranquil springtime fields. References A G Harvey, S Payne (2002) The management of unwanted pre-sleep thoughts in insomnia: distraction with imagery versus general distraction.  Behaviour Research and Therapy vol 40, issue 4, 267 - 277

One of the most common reasons for booking a massage is pain relief, whether its Neck pain Shoulder pain Lower back pain As a massage therapist to [...]