A Migraine headache and Stress Headache May Be Relieved By Easy Self-Massage Strategy

While it might appear like the most effective way to combat a headache is to grab a non-prescription or prescription pain-killer, it's possible that a natural solution might not only ease your headache quicker but may assault the discomfort at its source. If tension or migraine headaches are dued to muscle stress, then it makes more sense to relieve the stress instead of simply numbing the discomfort.

Stress Headaches

Three of the muscles belonging to the suboccipital group at the base of the skull are most likely responsible for lots of cases of tension headache; these muscles are the rectus capitis posterior major, rectus capitis posterior small and the obliquus capitis remarkable. All three muscles attach to the skull; the very first 2 link to the upper cervical vertebrae in the neck, and the 3rd links to another muscle in the neck.

The suboccipital muscles are accountable for head extension, or raising the head. Frequently, these muscles are tight in individuals with forward head posture. This postural disorder takes place when the head extends forward of the body's center line; the suboccipitals need to work overtime to keep the head facing forward from this position.

Put your fingertips on the back of your head and arch your neck back; you'll likely feel the muscles in your skull tense up. When the suboccipitals tighten, they exert a pull on muscles throughout the skull. This tension is believed to result in tension headaches - the throbbing, aching and tightness that wraps around the moving towards anywhere from hours to days.

Chronic tension in the suboccipital muscles can cause trigger points - knots that form in the connective tissue surrounding the muscles that make it challenging to relax them. Myofascial release is a targeted form of massage therapy created to loosen tight connective tissue. You can exercise self-myofascial release (SMR) at home with the use of a trigger point device to deal with suboccipital stress.