Massage May Help to Reduce Headache Occurence
I came across an interesting article titled “Can Massage Therapy Reduce Headache Occurence?” and thought I would share with you a few bits of information from it.
We all have headaches from time to time and The International Headache Society has identified approximately 200 types of headache disorders. A migraine has been broken down into six varieties, with each one of those broken down further into several causes or types.
Massage therapy may not be the cure for headaches, but it can help to lower their occurrence, their frequency and their intensity. Before deciding to use massage therapy as help, you first need to determine what type of headache you have, as this helps to decide what type of massage is best for you.
There are three types of headaches that massage therapy may help:
- Tension Headaches: There is no one cause for this type of headache, but it can be aggravated by stress. Massage therapy is well-known for relieving stress. Swedish (or relaxation) massage would be beneficial, since just about any slow movement techniques can help to reduce stress. Stay away from deep tissue or invigorating strokes.
- Migraines: Someone with this type of headache will most likely not want a massage at the time this is happening, but having a regular therapeutic massage may help reduce the frequency, intensity and duration of them over a period of time. A light touch Swedish massage once a week would be ideal for this type of headache, but even every other week (or once a month) would be beneficial.
- Secondary headaches: These types of headaches include a wide range of causes. Becasue of this, there is no one type of mssage that can be recommended. For these types of headaches, some basic knowledge of pathology is needed as well as a thorough understanding of contraindications and more than just a low level acquaintance with pharmacology. To determine which type of massage would be helpful, first look at the root casue. A massage technique that may help a sinus headache may be contraindicated for someone with a headache casued by a concussion.
Before looking for massage for some relief with your headaches, please contact your doctor to determine what type of headache you actually have. I would hate to massage you for relief, only to make the situation worse.
You can schedule your next massage by visiting the Appointment page.