How to stop tension headaches with physical therapy

The tension slowly builds in your neck, and you can feel it slowly moving into your head. Eventually, this tension turns to pain. You’re now one of the millions of people who experience tension headaches every day. You’re also likely keen to find out how to stop your tension headaches. 

Tension-type headaches often occur when muscles or other soft tissue in your neck become tense. Such headaches are very common among Americans — it’s estimated that about 75% of the general population experiences tension headaches annually. Figuring out how to stop your tension headaches is something that a physical therapist can do. In fact, these specialists offer many treatment techniques that can help treat tension headaches. 

Treatment of tension headaches may involve these three physical therapy methods

Physical therapists are trained to treat the muscles, ligaments, tendons and other tissue of the human musculoskeletal system. This training allows them to diagnose neck issues that can trigger tension headaches. It also allows physical therapists to help you figure out how best to stop your tension headaches. 

A few of the therapy methods that could be included in your treatment plan are: 

1. Manual therapy — Therapists can use their hands to move and manipulate many parts of your body, including your neck. When they do this, it’s called manual therapy. This family of techniques can be used to stretch out tense neck muscles. They can also be used to realign the vertebrae in your neck. One medical study reports that seven weeks of manual therapy helped cut headache intensity in half. 

2. Therapeutic exercises — Strengthening and stretching your neck can also help treat and prevent tension headaches. Exercises that help you accomplish these goals are known as therapeutic exercises. One study had patients perform neck and head exercises for six weeks. Six months after completing their exercise program, patients were still experiencing benefits like: 

• Reduced headache frequency
• Decreased headache intensity 
• Shorter headache duration

3. McKenzie Method^® — This therapy technique is really a three-part process. It includes an evaluation phase, an education phase and a treatment phase. The main goals of the McKenzie Method include helping you learn about your condition and giving you tools you can use to address it. A study on the McKenzie Method found that it helped reduce the number of patients experiencing tension headaches by nearly 77%. 

Advent PT is ready to help you figure out how to stop your tension headaches

Determined to learn how to stop your tension headaches? Our team at Advent Physical Therapy is primed to help you meet this goal. We offer free screenings that can pinpoint the root cause of your headaches. 

In addition, our physical therapists excel at building personalized treatment plans. These plans are designed to reduce headache intensity, duration and frequency. We can even help you treat your headaches right from your own how. This is possible thanks to the at-home care and virtual therapy services our team offers. 

Contact our team today for more information about our headache treatment services or to schedule an initial appointment.