Massage is the ideal complementary therapy that has been shown to decrease headache severity and frequency, as well as reduce distress symptoms often found responsible for them. Please read on for more information.
How Can Massage Therapy Help Relieve Headaches?
Massage therapy works to relieve the symptoms of a headache by:
- Releasing any muscle tension, spasms and shortened muscles in the head, neck and shoulders. When done so, pressure is taken off the nerves and their supplying blood vessels thus reducing the pain of the headache.
- Assisting the muscles and body to berid itself of lactic and carbonic acid build-up.
- Reducing an anxiety or mental stress that may be causing the headache.
- Naturally stimulating the brain’s release of feel-good endorphins that fight pain.
- Promoting blood circulation and lymphatic fluid drainage, allowing toxins and other waste products to be more rapidly eliminated.
Body Massage Areas for Headaches
Certain areas on the body will be addressed more so than others in a massage for headache. Some of these areas include the:
- Back
- Neck
- Head
- Feet
- Hands
There are also five other techniques commonly used by practitioners to relieve and prevent headaches, including:
- Temple massage
- Forehead massage
- Forehead pulling
- Tapping on the forehead.
- Nose and cheekbone manipulation.
Other popular forms of massage for headaches
- Shiatsu, which reduces headache pain by applying pressure to certain acupuncture points with the thumbs, fingers and palm.
- The Trager approach, which aims to reduce headache pain by stretching muscles, relieving joints and increasing feelings of relaxation.
- Trigger Point Therapy (TPT), which aims to reduce pain by applying pressure to certain points along the Trapezius and Sternocleidomastoid muscles. It is thought that the applied pressure inhibits the nerve signals that cause headache pain and create the headaches trigger point.
Find out about other effective natural headache treatments.
Originally published on Jun 22, 2010
