There are many causes of headaches; migraines, dehydration, eye strain, even hormones and side-effects from some medications, to name just a few. But today, we’re focussing on tension headaches or cervicogenic headaches.
It’s quite common for us to get headaches and discomfort in the neck from sitting at a desk for a long time, looking down at phones, driving long distances. There are many activities we do daily that can contribute to the tightness in neck muscles and headaches.
Our neck muscles do an awful lot of work. As we looked at in our previous blog about the weight of the head, the muscles in the neck work with an impressive amount of force to keep the head up when leaning forwards. When the head is held in front of the body, the amount of force the neck has to exert can typically be around 22 kilos, and this amount of force can cause adverse tension that leads to headaches.
At the back of skull, there is a group of little muscles called the suboccipital muscles. Their job overall is to help tilt the chin up and help with focussing the eyes, and this is what can lead to tension type headaches, because these muscles form something special; the myodural bridge.
This is a bridge of connective tissue between the suboccipital muscles and the dura mater, a layer of tough tissue that wraps around the brain. When the suboccipital muscles become too tight, they put adverse tension on the dura mater and squish the small blood vessels leading to areas around the tissue with a diminished free flow of blood. This leads to headaches, head protrusion, vertigo.
So, what can be done? Well, good news! There are some simple exercises you can do sitting at your desk, in the car, on the sofa, wherever! Simply;
- Place both hands on the back of your head and tuck your chin down.
- Gently pull your chin back towards you, pressing your head into your hands.
- Press for 30 seconds then relax.
- Try this exercise at least twice a day!