What's the difference between a headache and a tension headache?

Do you experience headaches through the front of your head, sides of your head, or into the back of your head?

Does it feel like it had just been squeezed so tight that it could burst at any second?

Chances are most of us experienced this tension headache or a suboccipital headache at some stages of our lives. These headaches are a super common presentation that come into the clinic so I'm going to give you a bit of information on how you can help manage them at home.

The main causative factor for these headaches and migraines is through the top three joints in your neck, being the atlanto-occipital joint, comprising the base of your skull and the first vertebrae and the atlantoaxial joint comprising of the joint between your first and your second cervical vertebrae. There are a lot of super strong muscles that connect in through the neck and shoulders and when they go into spasm, they can interfere with the vertebrae’s movement and cause them to get stuck. Suboccipital or tension headaches can be influenced by a lot of things.

The first I'm going to discuss, in my opinion, is the most important and it is posture. So, when we look down for extended periods of time, looking at  phone, laptops, reading books, and that sort of thing, the muscles at the top of the neck can start to get irritated. This can cause the joints becoming irritated to lead to subsequent headaches. We want to be aiming to keep our head up and aim for a gentle elongation of the spine as much as we really can. This might require keeping your phones and books up at eye level and even elevating your laptop up to a higher amount so you're stopping that sort of head tilt.

Posture can even extend into sleeping posture. Choosing the right pillow for your neck is super important for your sleeping posture and everyone's preference is going to be different. Sleeping on your stomach is not recommended at all as you're spending extended periods of time with your neck stuck in full rotation, which can really start to irritate those muscles connecting into the top of the neck and the joints that connect into. Sleeping on your back or your side is much more preferable for headache and migraine sufferers. For side sleepers, I recommend doing a quick pillow test to see if your pillow is the right size for you.

Everyone has a different broadness of their shoulders. Therefore, everyone's pillow height might be different. To do with self-assessment, I want you to stand up against the wall, put a pillow between your head and the wall, and then gently lean into the pillow. If the pillow significantly makes you fall towards it, it's probably too small. And if it makes you fall away from it, it's probably too big. Investing in an adjustable height pillow can be really helpful as you can adjust the pillow as it loses firmness over time.

Another reason why you might be getting suboccipital or tension headaches may be coming from your jaw. Your jaw actually holds a lot of tension from the day and every time you clench your jaw, the muscles connecting to it contract. Lots of people unconsciously clench their jaw when they’re stressed, or even grind their teeth at night. Wearing splints at night works as a protective barrier and helps maintain the integrity of the teeth and the gums, but the muscles will still contract when they’re clenching so it's not completely fixing the problem. Being aware of the cues when you may be clenching can help as well as the manual therapy on the jaw musculature.

Hopefully you found some of these tips helpful. If you're struggling at managing your headaches yourself, give us a call and we'd be happy to help you up.

Stay in touch with us at (03) 9486 7543 or you can book your FREE consultation with us through here.