Today I want to share a great stretch you can begin to prevent tension headaches. It is called the behind-the-back stretch. It can be completed in a sitting or standing position.
It's especially useful to do whenever you feel the back of your neck and upper back begin to tighten from having sat too long at your computer.
If you're going to sit, make sure you have a chair with backing that comes halfway up your back.
Hook your arms over the back of the chair and pull your shoulder blades together (if you're standing, assume the military position: head up, shoulders back, stomach tight).
As you do this, make sure to stick your chest out. As this is very important, you should exaggerate a bit - and make sure you keep your head up, too.
Pull your shoulder blades together until you feel a pull in your shoulder joints. Don't go overboard on this; you don't want to cause any pain.
Now hold this stretch for three full minutes (don't cheat and quit early; the length of this stretch is very important).
At the end of this stretch, you should feel your back muscles loosen; you may even feel a warm rush of blood up the back of your neck.
It is helpful to take many breaks throughout the day to perform this stretch - it will help in prevent tension headaches.
Read our series on Tension headaches:
What causes tension headaches
To get more information about Tension Headaches read: How to Get Permanent Relief From Chronic Tension Headaches. It will give you several easy-to-follow stretches to do that gradually retrain your muscles to adapt to a proper posture.
Showing posts with label tension headaches. Show all posts
Showing posts with label tension headaches. Show all posts
5/06/2008
What Causes Tension Headaches?
In my next few blog entries I want to discuss a common type of headache: The Tension headache. Today I want to address the causes of Tension Headaches.
The Cause of tension headaches is usually tight and spasmed neck, shoulder and/or upper back muscles, which restrict blood flow to the back of the head - it's like stepping on a turned-on garden hose.
In addition, these tight and spasmed muscles irritate nerve endings in the back of the head.
The result: chronic tension headaches.
These neck, shoulder and/or upper back spasms and tightness associated with these spasms are usually a direct result of poor posture - especially poor posture in the workplace (although some kinds of trauma, like a car accident, can be responsible).
Let's say you work at a computer all day, or drive a truck, or work at a drill press in a factory. Chances are, you often find yourself working with your neck jutted out and shoulders rolled in.
When you stay in this posture all day, your neck, shoulders and/or upper back get stretched out. At the same time, your chest constricts, weakening its ability to hold your head upright.
This puts even more strain on your neck, shoulders and upper back, which eventually tighten. After awhile, this constant strain causes microscopic fibers in these muscles to tear. The body, in an effort to prevent this tearing, causes the affected muscles to knot up, or spasm.
Nevertheless, some tearing occurs within these spasms anyway. And when they heal, microscopic threads of scar tissue are left behind. When that happens, these scar tissues effectively lock the spasms in place.
At that point, the spasms can't release no matter how many painkillers or muscle relaxers you take. And since these spasms are continually restricting blood flow to the back of the head and irritating nerve endings there, chronic tension headaches develop.
The only way to get rid of the headaches is to get rid of the spasms, but you can't get rid of the spasms until you get rid of the scar tissue locking them in place.
And that's where the "How to Get Permanent Relief From Chronic Tension Headaches" program comes in. It takes you by the hand and teaches you a little-known soft-tissue technique (sort of like acupressure) that breaks down this scar tissue, allowing for the spasms to relax.
Once that happens, there's no more nerve ending irritation, no more blood flow restriction to the back of your head...and no more headaches.
Of course, the entire cycle will repeat itself unless the posture is corrected.
To get more information about Tension Headaches read: How to Get Permanent Relief From Chronic Tension Headaches. It will give you several easy-to-follow stretches to do that gradually retrain your muscles to adapt to a proper posture.
The Cause of tension headaches is usually tight and spasmed neck, shoulder and/or upper back muscles, which restrict blood flow to the back of the head - it's like stepping on a turned-on garden hose.
In addition, these tight and spasmed muscles irritate nerve endings in the back of the head.
The result: chronic tension headaches.
These neck, shoulder and/or upper back spasms and tightness associated with these spasms are usually a direct result of poor posture - especially poor posture in the workplace (although some kinds of trauma, like a car accident, can be responsible).
Let's say you work at a computer all day, or drive a truck, or work at a drill press in a factory. Chances are, you often find yourself working with your neck jutted out and shoulders rolled in.
When you stay in this posture all day, your neck, shoulders and/or upper back get stretched out. At the same time, your chest constricts, weakening its ability to hold your head upright.
This puts even more strain on your neck, shoulders and upper back, which eventually tighten. After awhile, this constant strain causes microscopic fibers in these muscles to tear. The body, in an effort to prevent this tearing, causes the affected muscles to knot up, or spasm.
Nevertheless, some tearing occurs within these spasms anyway. And when they heal, microscopic threads of scar tissue are left behind. When that happens, these scar tissues effectively lock the spasms in place.
At that point, the spasms can't release no matter how many painkillers or muscle relaxers you take. And since these spasms are continually restricting blood flow to the back of the head and irritating nerve endings there, chronic tension headaches develop.
The only way to get rid of the headaches is to get rid of the spasms, but you can't get rid of the spasms until you get rid of the scar tissue locking them in place.
And that's where the "How to Get Permanent Relief From Chronic Tension Headaches" program comes in. It takes you by the hand and teaches you a little-known soft-tissue technique (sort of like acupressure) that breaks down this scar tissue, allowing for the spasms to relax.
Once that happens, there's no more nerve ending irritation, no more blood flow restriction to the back of your head...and no more headaches.
Of course, the entire cycle will repeat itself unless the posture is corrected.
To get more information about Tension Headaches read: How to Get Permanent Relief From Chronic Tension Headaches. It will give you several easy-to-follow stretches to do that gradually retrain your muscles to adapt to a proper posture.
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