Taking the Mystery out of Headaches
Every type of chronic headache can be stopped no matter how many years the person has been suffering with this problem. Too many men and women, the young and the elderly, are made to believe that the cause of headache is a great mystery and that they are doomed to endure endless suffering, disability, medications, and invasive procedures.
It is time to let the truth be told. Head, neck, facial, and jaw pain come about as a result of facial, head, neck, and shoulder muscle that has become tight, rigid, and swollen. This muscle condition is called hypertonic spasm.
The headache comes about when this tight muscle presses down upon nearby head, neck, and facial nerves. During a headache, nerves are being pinched. There are more than 20 sets of head, neck and facial muscles that can become “spastic” and pinch a nerve.
Depending upon the “location” of head, neck, facial, and jaw pain, there will be a particular set of three or four muscles that are causing the painful condition.The location of pain means frontal headache, crown headache, temple headache, eye pain, ear and jaw pain, side of neck pain, sinus pain, back of neck pain, or back of head pain.
For example, eye pain will involve a group of three or four identifiable neck, facial, and cranial muscle that is causing the pain. A temple headache will involve one or two identifiable muscles as the cause of pain.
The important idea is that headache pain location will tell the well trained therapist what particular set of muscles are a direct cause of the headache and therefore should be treated first. There are a set of four primary cranial nerves on each side of the head. Each type of headache is a direct result of one or more of these cranial nerves being pinched by one or more set of tight, swollen neck and cranial muscles.
Knowing the exact location of each nerve, in addition to each set of muscles which crossover and make contact with or touch that nerve is the key to stopping any type of headache.
Headache massage is a specialty type of skill which uses the index and middle finger to apply gentle acupressure massage to the neck, facial, cranial, and shoulder muscles. It is the most consistently successful treatment for any type headache complaint. The technique uses neuro-muscular compression/decompression, and myofacial push-pull muscle spasm relief during a 35-45 minute neck, head facial, and shoulder massage.
During the past thirty years, I have treated frontal, temple, cluster, migraine, sinus, tension, and maxillary headache. All it takes is a little patience, plenty of study, and a wish to do something worthwhile.
During a headache massage, I use my index and middle fingers of both hands to gently push and pull the spastic muscle off of and away from the nerve that is being pinched. The spastic muscle is pushed and pulled back toward it’s point of origin and is held in position for a few moments.
The muscle being held in this position will undergo a loss of swelling, tightness, and hardness and a return to normal elastic function. The offending muscle is then permitted to return to it’s normal position close to the nerve, but not pinching the nerve.
This muscle “resetting” procedure is repeated with each spastic neck, cranial, and shoulder muscle. This type of headache massage requires that the client be wide awake and able to give feedback as to what feels good and what does not.
The cluster headache gives pain over the eye that is much more painful than a migraine headache. The terrible pain of this type headache comes from a swelling of the frontal sinus which begins to press against and distort the fore head bones, and frequently causing one eye ball to be lower than the other.
The cluster headache can be treated and stopped from re-occurring by massage of the sub-occipital muscles and leading the client through a simple sequence of procedures that will open and clear a swollen frontal sinus. In the beginning stages of a migraine headache it is the sphenoid sinus that gives the warning signs of visual flashes, nausea, and vomiting, and it is the frontal sinus that creates pain in the temple by pressing against the jaw bone.and muscles.
Massage of the neck, temple, and scalp muscles in addition to the use of the procedure for opening the sinus will stop the pain of migraine. The tension headache is caused by chronically tight muscle pressing down upon the cranial nerves at the base of the skull.
The technique of “push-pull’ headache massage will stop this problem. The conclusion of all this is that the great majority of headaches are caused by tight, spastic muscle and swollen sinus, which as you can gather here, are very treatable by the properly trained therapist.