Does this scenario sound familiar to you?
It’s nearly five o’clock at work on a Monday. You’ve been anxiously watching the time for hours, but you have a to-do list of twenty things, and the emails just keep popping up in your inbox. On top of this, you know that even when you go home tonight, all you’ll be able to think about is how much work is waiting for you at your desk tomorrow morning. How are you supposed to enjoy your evening at home with your family with these headaches?
The more you stress about this, the more you start to notice a familiar, aching feeling starting in the sides of your head, possibly above your temples.
You try massaging this area and pinching the bridge of your nose, but the pain doesn’t stop. The headache has already started and you know it’s going to take away from your productivity into your evening.
If this situation sounds familiar to you, you’re not alone. Stress-related headaches are nothing to joke about, and unfortunately some of us experience them more often than we’d like to admit. Taking over the counter medication to help make the pain go away doesn’t diminish the real issue that is causing the headaches in the first place though: stress!
The good news is that physical therapy is a safe and healthy option to taking medication to manage headache pain. Contact our clinic today to learn more about the benefits of physical therapy for stress-related headaches. We want to help you get back to enjoying your evenings after work, and your life at home with your family, unplagued by headache pain!
Causes of stress-related headaches
If you know how to identify a stress-related headache, then you can pat yourself on the back for being able to pinpoint the problem! However, from there you also need to actively take steps to address the true cause of the pain, as well as the pain itself. Pain relieving medication is a temporary fix for a long-term problem. The severity of stress-related headaches can be reduced by physical therapy, as well as how often you experience these types of headaches.
Most of us aren’t even aware of how we physically carry our stress throughout the day. Stress-related headaches develop because of a combination of hormones and physical tension in your body, often around the neck and shoulder area. Sitting in uncomfortable office chairs, being stuck inside all day long, or sitting in a car on a frustratingly long commute home at the end of the day are all factors that can contribute to extra tension in the body. All of that tension shows itself as debilitating, painful stress-related headaches.
Physical therapists: the leading experts in holistic pain management
Physical therapy could be the answer you’ve been searching for when it comes to relieving headache pain and cutting down on the number of headaches you’re experiencing on a daily basis.
Physical therapists have an arsenal of treatment methods and modalities at their fingertips, and they won’t hesitate to try them out on you to find the best way to relieve your pain! Here are a few ways a physical therapist can help you to manage your headaches once and for all.
- Stretches to reduce tension in the neck and back. A targeted stretching routine is one of the most common ways that physical therapists will combat the tension that is held in your back, neck, and shoulders. These are simple stretches you can repeat at home or at work. Once your physical therapist has shown you the best form of stretching, you can be sure that the stretching you’re doing on your own will be correct and safe.
- Encouraging muscle relaxation. A physical therapist can help you understand muscle relaxation techniques, which will be super helpful to you the next time you’re in a stressful situation. They can teach you how to relax your muscles instead of constricting them, which will promote airflow through your body, and increase your ability to stay calm. This helps decrease the amount of tension headaches you’re experiencing.
- Targeted massage to alleviate tension in the jaw. The jaw is a common area to hold tension, as some people are prone to clenching their jaw when they get upset, angry, or frustrated. The only issue is that the jaw is not able to be stretched out at home. Your physical therapist will use massage and other techniques to reduce tension for you in your jaw, which will also help to reduce headaches.
Still not convinced that physical therapy could help with your chronic stress-related headaches? The only way to find out if this is something that could benefit you is to call our office and schedule an appointment!
Physical therapy could be the answer to your prayers…
You might think that physical therapists can only help people suffering from obvious injuries or conditions. This isn’t true. Physical therapists are trained movement specialists who know how to treat a variety of ailments, including chronic headache pain. Tension and stress-related headaches are certainly no match for a PT!
Tension headaches can alter your everyday life if you let them, but you don’t have to with the right form of physical therapy. Contact our office today for more information about using physical therapy to overcome pain caused by your stress-related headaches.
