What's the difference between tightness and stiffness and why does it matter?

There's actually a significant difference between tightness and stiffness but what is that difference and what does it mean when it comes the time for your headaches and migraines ? 

 

People will always say “I'm really tight,I feel really tight through my neck, I feel really tight in through my shoulders” And a lot of people will have had a lot of massages or do a lot of self-relief. They'll use heat packs, they'll use spiky balls, they'll use foam rollers and yet they still feel tight. There's absolutely nothing wrong with doing these things. You want to keep your muscle tension really soft and you don't want to be tight, but why do you still feel tight even though you've done these things again and again? 

Well tightness refers to muscles. When muscles get tight, they're in a shortened state or alternatively they can actually be elongated. They're always being tugged so you feel tight. With that, you would do things like get massaged,  use a heat pack to try to soften those muscles or you would use a spiky ball because a spiky ball is doing self-relief and self massage.

 

If you're still feeling tight more often than not, it is actually the joint underneath which is actually stiffness. So when your joints are stuck then it's stiffness, it's not actually tightness and a lot of people are experiencing this and it feels a lot like tightness. Remember that it may feel a lot like it's the muscles but it's actually the joints underneath. When it comes time for headaches and migraines, you can do stretching and all the release work for the muscles that you like. But it's not actually the muscle's fault. 

 

Particularly the top three joints of your neck are really stiff as well so if you're only working on the muscles it doesn't make a huge amount of difference. It is very important because you do want nice soft muscles. We need to work the joints in order to actually make those significant changes for your headaches and migraines, so we should get the joints moving.

General mobilization exercises are things like neck circles. Looking from side to side, looking up and looking down are very general basic mobilization exercises. If you're sitting in front of a computer all day or if you're sitting and watching television a lot or playing computer games or anything like that where it's a stagnant posture, you're not moving a lot then your joints can get really stiff in through your neck.  That's why General Mobility can be really good for getting up. Going for a walk is really good too because your head is moving a lot.

 

There are also really specific exercises that you can do to get your neck moving but it does also depend on where you're stiff, where you're stuck and so if you come into the clinic or when you come into the clinic then our practitioners can assess your neck. We can give you specific exercises to then target that stiffness to be able to get the joints moving. And that can help your headaches and migraines to decrease.

The same thing in terms of your upper back, a lot of people have really restricted joints through their ribs and their upper back. The thoracic spine and ribs need to be mobilized, particularly when we've got a bit of a rounded posture or you're doing anything that's forward. 

For example, if you're working on a computer, if you're driving a lot again, if you're playing computer games or if you're reading anything that's in front of you then your upper ribs can particularly get stuck so you're always feeling like you're tight. Mobilization is needed because they're stiff, so that's the difference between stiffness (which is joints) and then you've got your muscles (which are tight) So if you've got muscle tension and you're actually tight then you need to stretch them, you need to massage them using heat packs and those sorts of things but if you are stiff, then it is a joint you need to mobilize them, you need to move them, you need to articulate them. That's the difference! 

When it comes the time for headaches and migraines, majority of the time it is actually a joint problem the top three joints in particular that we need to get moving in the right way to see significant changes.

 

That's what we do here at Melbourne headache Solutions,  we thoroughly assess the neck, the upper neck and the lower neck. We do have a look at the upper back, the jaw and all of the other areas of headaches and migraines as well to see what's causing your headaches and migraines. With that, we can get significant changes as quickly as possible and it can give you an individualized treatment plan because your headaches migraines are going to be different to the next person's headaches and migraines as they should be because we're all individual people.  We live individual lives, we have different experiences. 

If you have any questions or queries, reach out to us. Our absolute passion is helping people with headaches and migraines so if you are experiencing chronic neck pain or chronic headaches and migraines, we would love to see you and  help you. Reach out, give us a chat, give us a call or we'll see you in the clinic. 

You can also book your initial consultation here