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How to manage a headache at home

stress management and massage hertford

Why may you be getting headaches?

Poor breathing mechanics can lead to chronic pain in the body. Commonly felt in the upper back, chest, neck and shoulders. Learning to breath into your abdomen is important as it allows you to gain or develop core stability.

You work may be part of the problem. I often need to lean over with my work or lift heavy limbs. If I am distracted or stressed I don’t use my body properly and these repetitive actions put stress and strain on my upper body.

I find that headaches can bother me when I have been stressed, emotional or had a long day. Quiet often our posture throughout the day can affect our upper backs, chest and neck. This can generate pain that radiates into our head, face or jaw. Trigger points can also be aggravated or irritated, this results in throbbing pain or symptoms that can radiate down your arm or further into your chest.

What I did to ease my headache.

Counteracting the damage caused by poor body mechanics is key to helping your body feel more able and to have less pain. I take regular breaks from activities, move as much as I can and do specific exercises to help maintain my body.

There is a small video clip on my Instagram page to demonstrate what I did to help alleviate these symptoms.

I would usually do a separate breathing exercise; my neck would be long and not raised and I would take about 5 minutes to do this. I do find combining the breathing exercise with any activity beneficial.

The video shows me lying on my foam roller starting with deep abdominal breathing. Your head is heavy so can use this weight to ease the tension. I then mobilise my cervical spine by rocking my head slightly or turning side to side. This also allows me to get further into the tension spots. I tend to use a foam roller with different surfaces for this. The flat rollers tend to just crush everything.

I use the foam roller daily to perform thoracic extension. This really helps combat rounded posture and pain between your shoulder blades. Joint mobility is very important, it can stop the spine from becoming compressed and allows your movement to flow better.

Finally I use a soft spikey massage ball, (a tennis ball will do) to ease the last of the tension on my right side and up into the base of my neck. I use my bodyweight alone to ease into the trigger point and then progress to some movement with my neck.

In total this take 2-3 minutes and it does really help ease the symptoms. I may look to book in for a session if the problem persists however I feel it was more my recent stress and posture that triggered the pain.

While at night it had a great effect, as I can sleep for 4-5 hours at the hospital after the injection (the drug starts acting in about 20 minutes), in the morning it is a disadvantage. It belongs to the narcotic drugs and is dispensed only on prescription. At the hospital, this drug is kept in the safe and taken on prescription.

As good as treatment can be you do also have to learn how to manage your body at home. I also advise you have some water, plenty of us don’t drink enough and a surprising amount of body aches and pains can stem from dehydration.
