Headache pain is the most often reported type of pain in the U.S. Learn about some of the most common types of headache pain, and if massage can help to alleviate or reduce the frequency of this sometimes debilitating infirmity.
By Linda Fehrs, LMT, Original Post Here
Some people rarely, if ever, get headaches. Some get them every few weeks or months. Others experience them frequently, several times a week or even every day. More than 9 out of 10 adults will experience headache pain at some point in their lives. It is the most common form of pain and results in time out from work or school. A moderate to severe headache often interferes with normal daily activities.
Although there are only three main categories of headaches, within those divisions are more than 200 individual types, some of which massage therapy may help to relieve or even reduce their occurrences.
Here are seven relatively common types of headaches, symptoms and common therapies used to ease them:
- Tension – Tension headaches are the most frequently occurring of all headaches. They affect women more than men. The exact origin of a tension headache is not known, but it is likely a result of muscle contraction, primarily the muscles of the skull, including occipitofrontalis which draws the scalp both posteriorly and anteriorly as well as elevates the eyebrows. When a person becomes stressed – whether it be physical or emotional – so too do the muscles, which then start to spasm, causing pain. The pain is often described as band-like pressure or tightness. Even with the pain of this type of headache, a person can function normally. While massage therapy is not a cure for tension headaches, it can help to relax a person and reduce stress resulting in less frequent and less severe ones.
