What if I said there’s a solution for your splitting headache?

Tell me something, how many times have you been to the doctor for your splitting headache and been given pills to pop. And asked to come back for the same old pills every time you get another one? Nothing against doctors!As a physio, I work with them all the time. But if you’re anything like me, you do trust your body and wouldn’t want to take pills for the rest of your life , would you? What if I told you there’s another way? All right, I see you shaking your head a little bit. But trust me on this. Being a physio, I’ve seen plenty of people suffering from headaches until they come to see us. And voila! They’re cured. Now I can’t take all the credit here because homework is important too. I just cannot stress the importance of seeing a great physiotherapist here. Here are 3 ways our physios can get rid of your headaches.

One of the commonest causes of headache is neck. Especially so if you have a job like sitting in an office or repetitive lifting. Also if you’ve had injury like a major fall or car accident. Whether the pain has developed over a period of time or instantly, the structures around your neck can get inflamed or swollen. Now there are 7 small bones that make up your neck. They join each other on either sides and through the centre with gel-like discs. Any swelling of these parts can push on the nerves that supply the muscles of the head and eyes causing  headaches. A physiotherapist will be able to tell you where the pain is coming from and treat the root cause. This obviously gets rid of it long term.

One of the commonest areas that cause headaches is the neck. So oru physios will literally get movement in the joints to increase circulation through the area. What this does is get rid of swelling that is the main cause of pain. This also gets a better movement into the joints which then releases pressure on the surrounding muscles. As a result you will feel better movement and less tension in the neck and even your head! We also then use deep tissue massage to ease your muscles. This further relaxes the neck muscles and gets rid of the headache. It is important that you see a physio who lays their hands on you rather than just giving you exercises.

Ok I understand that if you’re in pain, the first thing you want is pain relief. I believe that you can’t exercise your pain away. You definitely have to be at a certain level before you start thinking about exercises for long term relief. That’s why we focus on getting rid of the pain first before giving you homework and that includes, you guessed it…stretches and exercises. Don’t worry, it’s not about pumping iron in the gym. More so it’s doing gentle stretching exercises but more times through the day. Also, for those of you who sit for hours together on an office, posture is just so important. It’s something that has a bad effect over a period of time. So we definitely show you exactly what to do to have a good posture.