It starts with a pain in your neck that slowly radiates into your head. Eventually, it feels like a band is tightening around your head. This brief scenario demonstrates how a tension headache typically starts.
Tension headaches are the most common type of headache experienced worldwide. It’s estimated that 75% of the general population experiences one of these headaches every year. Often, people only experience these headaches occasionally. But some may develop tension headaches on a daily basis. These people are considered to have chronic tension headaches.
Physical therapists can help people treat their daily tension headaches. There are a variety of benefits that such treatment can offer.
Daily tension headache sufferers can get these three benefits from physical therapy:
- Reducing headache frequency — Most people with chronic tension headaches (CTHs) want to reduce how many headaches they have. This is one benefit that physical therapy can offer. A study on CTH sufferers reports that physical therapy helped reduce headache frequency by almost two days per week.
- Cutting headache duration — Another goal of physical therapy for CTHs is to decrease how long an individual headache lasts. Meeting this goal can help you spend more hours per day headache-free. One CTH study found that physical therapy helped cut CTH duration by more than fours hours per headache.
- Decreasing pain intensity — Daily tension headaches can cause intense pain. Physical therapists seek to reduce the pain intensity of the headaches you experience. Medical researchers report that physical therapy for CTHs led to a 30% reduction in pain intensity after six weeks of treatment.
How can physical therapists help you get these benefits for your daily tension headaches?
Physical therapy plans that are used to treat CTHs typically include a blend of several therapy techniques. Your physical therapist will determine the right blend of techniques that can help you achieve the benefits you’re looking for. Some of the therapy methods your plan can include are:
- Manual therapy designed to realign the vertebrae in your neck.
- Myofascial release intended to break up myofascial trigger points that have developed in neck soft tissue.
- Therapeutic exercises that focus on strengthening and stretching muscles in your neck, head and jaw.
Find effective treatment for daily tension headaches at Whatcom PT
Are you ready to try physical therapy for your daily tension headaches? Our Whatcom Physical Therapy team is prepared to help you treat your chronic tension headaches. We can do a free screening on you to pinpoint underlying issues that may be triggering your headaches.
In addition, our physical therapists excel at building personalized therapy plans designed to offer all the benefits discussed above. We can even help you treat your headaches from home if you sign up for a virtual therapy session with us.
Contact our team today for more information about our headache treatment options or to schedule an initial appointment to start treating your headaches.
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