Looking for Headache Relief? Try Physical Therapy
We’ve all had them, and we all hate them: headaches are an easy way to ruin your day. Headaches and migraines are widespread and can develop for several different causes. Sometimes, those causes stem from musculoskeletal issues. In those cases, physical therapy at Santa Clarita Valley Therapy Services can help you find relief.
Are you struggling with persistent headaches? Have you tried everything and still aren’t sure what to do to get them under control? Give us a call. We can assess your headache, help identify triggers, and, in many cases, offer pain relief through manual therapy techniques.
Not All Headaches Are the Same: Deciphering Your Symptoms
One of the reasons addressing headaches can be so difficult is that you need to determine the type of headache you have and its specific cause before you can find the right treatment. Our physical therapists can help with this process by performing a comprehensive evaluation of symptoms and potential triggers.
When you visit us, try to be as descriptive as possible about your headache. Here are some questions to keep in mind:
- Where do you feel your pain? Is it a tight band around your head? Is it behind one eye?
- Did the pain start in a different location (such as your neck) before moving into your head?
- How does the pain feel? Is it throbbing? Dull?
- What were you doing when the headache started?
- If you get frequent headaches, what patterns have you noticed? (For example, maybe you get headaches when you skip breakfast.)
- Are your headaches accompanied by other symptoms, such as nausea or light sensitivity?
In addition to reviewing your symptoms, our PTs might ask you to perform simple movement screens to evaluate your posture or to test the range of motion in your neck. We’ll also ask about any injuries you have suffered to your head, neck, or jaw.
All this information helps us better identify your headache and your options for treating it.
Understanding the Different Types of Headaches
So, what are the different types of headaches, anyway?
That’s a surprisingly tricky question, as there are over 150 different ones! Experts generally classify them into different categories based on whether or not they are primary (no underlying medical condition) or secondary (stemming from an underlying condition).
Here are some common ones.
Primary Headaches
- Migraine: Migraines cause recurring attacks, lasting 4 hours to 3 days, of throbbing or pulsing pain on one side of the head, plus additional symptoms like light or noise sensitivity or nausea.
- Tension: These headaches develop due to contracting neck, face, or jaw muscles. You’ll usually feel them as pressure on both sides of your head.
- Cluster: This type causes extremely painful, migraine-like headaches that occur around the same time for several weeks (i.e., in a cluster).
Secondary Headaches
- Sinus: A sinus headache occurs due to inflammation of your sinuses, which is where you’ll feel the pressure-like pain — in your cheeks, brow, or forehead.
- Cervicogenic: Because these headaches develop due to an underlying issue in the neck, they’re considered secondary headaches.
Not sure what type of headache you’re dealing with? Call us to schedule an appointment — we’ll review your symptoms and help you get to the bottom of it!
What We Can Do to Help You Find Lasting Headache Relief
Physical therapy is an excellent choice for addressing a specific type of headache: cervicogenic headaches.
Cervicogenic headaches develop due to issues in the neck. They’re a type of referred pain in which the problem in your neck causes pain in your head, usually radiating up the back of your head to the area around your temple, eye, and ear.
Different things can cause cervicogenic headaches, including poor posture, neck injuries, or degenerative conditions in the cervical spine.
If we determine you’re suffering from a cervicogenic headache, we’ll develop a customized plan to manage your headache pain and address the underlying cause. Techniques we might use include the following:
- Manual therapy techniques to mobilize the neck joint and manipulate the neck’s soft tissue
- Stretches to relieve tension and improve mobility in the neck and shoulders
- Strengthening exercises for your neck, upper back, and shoulders to provide additional support and stability
- Postural corrections to keep your entire spine in alignment
What About Other Types of Headaches?
Of course, we may discover you’re suffering from another headache type. In these cases, we may not be able to resolve the underlying cause of your headache (if there is one), but we can help you understand your headache better.
For example, many headaches have specific triggers. Migraines are notorious for this; people can develop migraines due to changes in their sleep schedule, eating certain foods, smelling certain scents, and more. Thanks to our comprehensive assessment, our PTs can help you better identify potential triggers and, if necessary, refer you to another specialist for treatment.
We might also be able to help with acute pain relief. Myofascial release and trigger point therapy are two manual therapy techniques that involve working out restrictions in your myofascia, a band of connective tissue that wraps around your muscles. There’s some evidence that myofascial release can help manage pain from migraines or tension-type headaches (another common headache type).
So, while these techniques might not resolve your pain, they offer a drug-free alternative to pain management.
New Insurance Plans Accepted
Santa Clarita Valley Therapy Services now accepts Regal Medical Group, Lakeside Community Healthcare, and Kaiser Preventive insurance plans.
We’re excited to expand access to care and make it easier for more patients to receive the therapy services they need.
Exercise of the Month
Neck Glide
Stand tall with your shoulders relaxed and your head in a neutral position. Gently draw your head straight backward, keeping your chin level — like you’re trying to make a double chin. Avoid tilting your head up or down. Hold briefly, then return to the starting position. 3 Sets, 10 Reps.
Healthy Recipe: Ginger & Magnesium-Rich Spinach Soup
Magnesium deficiency has been linked to increased headache frequency. This simple soup packs magnesium-rich spinach, anti-inflammatory ginger, and soothing broth into one easy bowl.
Ingredients
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- 1 medium onion, diced
- 3 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 tsp fresh ginger, grated
- 4 cups low-sodium vegetable broth
- 4 cups fresh spinach
- 1 can white beans, drained and rinsed
- Juice of half a lemon
- Salt and pepper to taste
Directions
- Heat olive oil in a pot over medium heat. Sauté onion until softened, about 5 minutes.
- Add garlic and ginger; cook 1 minute until fragrant.
- Pour in broth and bring to a simmer. Add white beans and cook 5 minutes.
- Stir in spinach and cook until just wilted, about 2 minutes.
- Finish with lemon juice, season to taste, and serve warm.
Get Started with Headache Relief Today
If your headache has you at your wits’ end, schedule an appointment with Santa Clarita Valley Therapy Services. We’ll review your symptoms, help you better understand the potential cause of your headache, and help you find a treatment plan that works for you.
Biodex Balance Machine
Have you been struggling with keeping your balance? It’s very possible you may have a balance issue that calls for the attention of a physical therapist. Thankfully, Santa Clarita Valley Therapy Services in Stevenson Ranch, CA can help. Santa Clarita Valley Therapy Services is proud to offer the Biodex Balance System for our patients dealing with balance and vestibular disorders.
Contact our office today to learn more about the Biodex Balance system. We’ll schedule an appointment for you to see one of our specialists right away.
What Is The Biodex Balance Machine?
The Biodex Balance machine at Santa Clarita Valley Therapy Services is a valuable training tool for anyone who is looking to improve their agility, balance, and develop muscle tone. The machine features easy-to-follow on screen instructions, and is fairly simple to operate. It leads you through tests and training modules, and can perform accurate Fall Risk Screenings for older patients.
According to the Biodex website, “Balance retraining exercises are designed to steady a patient while walking or standing through improvements in coordination of muscle responses and organization of sensory information. Static and dynamic tests are administered to gauge a patient’s balance – objective reporting and comparisons to normative data aid in the development of individual exercise plans.”
What Conditions Can Biodex Balance Treat?
The Biodex Balance machine can treat several conditions, including the following:
- Fall risk screening and conditioning
- Rehab for senior patients
- Neurorehabilitation for patients recovering from a stroke or dealing with Parkinson’s
- Vestibular disorders
- Sports medicine/orthopedic management
- Concussions
The Biodex Balance system is able to detect areas of weakness and challenges patients to improve. It also provides games for patients to play that stimulate and motivate postural improvements, and challenge cognitive and motor function.
Your physical therapist in Stevenson Ranch, CA at Santa Clarita Valley Therapy Services will do a full assessment of your balance at your initial appointment, and create a customized treatment plan for your needs that incorporates the use of the Biodex Balance system. He or she will provide you with plenty of information about your condition as well as your treatment plan’s outcome by utilizing this technology!
Shockwave Therapy: Now Available
We’ve had a lot of questions lately about Shockwave Therapy, and we’re excited to offer this innovative, non-invasive treatment at
Santa Clarita Valley Therapy Services. Shockwave Therapy uses targeted acoustic waves to stimulate healing, improve blood flow, and help reduce pain in injured or irritated tissues.
It’s commonly used for chronic conditions such as plantar fasciitis, Achilles tendonitis, tennis or golfer’s elbow, and patellar tendon pain, especially when symptoms haven’t fully responded to other treatments. Our physical therapists often incorporate shockwave therapy alongside traditional care for a more comprehensive approach to recovery.
If you’re dealing with lingering pain or an old injury that’s affecting your daily life, Shockwave Therapy may be an option worth exploring.
Contact us to learn more or to schedule an appointment.
Sources
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8384005/
https://www.choosept.com/guide/physical-therapy-guide-headaches
https://assets.cureus.com/uploads/review_article/pdf/63337/20210930-9728-rrbw4w.pdf
https://www.ninds.nih.gov/health-information/disorders/headache
