Do you get Neck Pain or Headaches?
How Remedial Massage & Myotherapy can help!
The 'Why'
At Just Knead It our goal is to inspire you to look after your now, so you can continue to enjoy all that life has to offer into your future.
Headaches, Neck Pain and Tightness can be debilitating. We are on a mission to get you pain free, feeling good and help relieve or manage the pain and tightness in your upper body. Yet what causes it and how can massage help?We give you insight into what we do, what we look for and how remedial massage and myotherapy can get you back on your feet and feeling better.
Headaches, Neck Pain and Tightness can be debilitating. We are on a mission to get you pain free, feeling good and help relieve or manage the pain and tightness in your upper body. Yet what causes it and how can massage help?We give you insight into what we do, what we look for and how remedial massage and myotherapy can get you back on your feet and feeling better.
What are Common Causes of Neck Pain and Headaches ?
In a fast-paced world that is constantly pushing us to our limits, stress as well as sitting and poor posture can lead to neck pain, tightness and headaches. We get how debilitating they can be and want to help.
First of all it is important to discern the underlying causes your neck pain and headaches. As Remedial Massage and Myotherapists we are constantly looking into WHY the pain and/ or tightness is there in the first place as well as addressing the symptoms you are currently experiencing.
You neck, shoulders, thoracic spine and rib cage work complex system to create range of motion and keep you upright. If one or more of these areas isn't functioning properly, you get a break down in the kinetic chain which is where pain, tightness and injury can occur. To get to the bottom of your headaches, pain and tightness it is important to have a balance between mobility and strength in each area.
The key is to identify which factors are contributing to you particular pain and tightness and creating a plan of attack to get you back on the road to recovery.
Your remedial massage or myotherapist will perform a range of testing including range of movement, and orthopaedic testing to understand what is going on in your neck and surrounding areas and identify contributing factors.
There are many common causes of neck pain and headaches. Often there are several pieces of the puzzle that need to be addressed to decrease pain and tightness. Some of the common causes can be:
First of all it is important to discern the underlying causes your neck pain and headaches. As Remedial Massage and Myotherapists we are constantly looking into WHY the pain and/ or tightness is there in the first place as well as addressing the symptoms you are currently experiencing.
You neck, shoulders, thoracic spine and rib cage work complex system to create range of motion and keep you upright. If one or more of these areas isn't functioning properly, you get a break down in the kinetic chain which is where pain, tightness and injury can occur. To get to the bottom of your headaches, pain and tightness it is important to have a balance between mobility and strength in each area.
The key is to identify which factors are contributing to you particular pain and tightness and creating a plan of attack to get you back on the road to recovery.
Your remedial massage or myotherapist will perform a range of testing including range of movement, and orthopaedic testing to understand what is going on in your neck and surrounding areas and identify contributing factors.
There are many common causes of neck pain and headaches. Often there are several pieces of the puzzle that need to be addressed to decrease pain and tightness. Some of the common causes can be:
- Muscle Weakness
Stability is a HUGE part of neck pain and headaches. If you do not have the strength in your deep neck and shoulder stabilisers muscles that aren't built to support your head and neck compensate and take some of the load. That can puts additional pressure through the joints and soft tissue which can cause tightness, stiffness, pain and/or injury to the area. - Joint Stiffness
Often there is an underlying joint pathology associated with neck pain and headaches. If one more more joint in your neck or upper back become stiff they stop doing their job properly. This causes other joints in the areas to overcompensate and cause pain and tightness.. Amongst other causes, joint stiffness can come from long periods of time sitting, sleeping in a different bed or on a different pillow, extended periods of travel, sitting in poor posture while on the phone or in front of the computer. Please note that muscle stiffness can also occur after periods of you being unwell. It is important to tell your therapist about any recent illnesses that you have had as these can contribute to your symptoms. - Poor Posture
Poor posture is a huge cause of neck and shoulders tightness as well as tension headaches. Sitting in poor posture for long periods of time put excessive stress on your neck muscles, joints and nerves. Having someone like a remedial massage therapist identify whether or not you need to make a change to you posture is essential to reduce and/or manage neck pain. - Everyday life jobs!
Dont forget to have a think about what you have been doing over the last few weeks. Have you had a change in routine? Had additional stress at home or work? Added some new exercises into your gym program? Travelled? Got stuck in and done some gardening? Moved House? Often we forget that these everyday jobs can impact our musculoskeletal system. Being mindful of the every day jobs we are doing our stress levels and the impact they can have on your neck and shoulders is essential to avoid headaches, tightness and pain. Having a massage therapist or a physio to assist you with some strategies to help mitigate the affects that these factors can have on your body can help reduce the impact they have on your musculoskeletal system. - Pathologies including Nerve, Disc and/Facet Related Conditions
There is a group of conditions that can cause neck pain. If these are not addressed they can cause you significant pain, have long term affects and need significant treatment. There are a certain characteristics of these types of conditions.. Having a remedial massage therapist or myotherapist who understands what to look for and who to refer you to is essential to ensure you get back on your feet as quickly as possible. - Poor Technique
At Just Knead It we treat clients who participate a variety of sports. Having a therapist who knows your sport is essential to understand all pieces of the puzzle. Making sure that technique is not a contributing factor to your neck pain, headaches or tightness is essential to get you on the mend and keep you that way.
How we use massage and myotherapy to help neck pain and tightness
- Identify is whether we can help. Our goal is to get you on the mend as quickly as possible even if this means referring on.
- Create a plan of attack and discuss it with you. Every treatment is slightly different. We treat based on what we find and retest as we go to make sure we are creating a change.
Some of the treatment technique we use to treat conditions of the neck:
- Deep tissue massage - Treating through your Neck, Chest Upper Arm and Back Muscles can help decrease neck related conditions.
- Neural glides - If there is mild irritation of the nerves doing gentle techniques such as neural glides which move the nerves of the along their pathways can help to decrease irritation of the area.
- Trigger point therapy - to your upper traps, sub occipital muscles (base of your scull), pecs, levator scapulae can relieve neck and shoulder pain.
- Distraction - A long slow drawing action of your head away from your shoulders can open up the space between each of your vertebra and help relieve symptoms of neck pain and headaches.
- Strengthening exercises - for neck and shoulder stabiliser muscles as well as improving your awareness of head and shoulder position through strength can improve neck pain and tightness.
- Joint mobilisations for your thoracic spine, and neck can help to improve pain and tightness.
- Assisted Stretching of neck and thoracic spine muscles in treatments as well as at home is often used in neck and shoulder treatments.
- Cupping is great for neck and shoulder tightness.
- Dry Needling of muscles we have identified could be impacting the on your neck and shoulder tightness can help.
- Relaxation - Massage has been proven to help with stress. Long flowing strokes or the simple act of massage itself can help with stress and it's impact on the body.
If you would like us to have a look at it or chat to us on the phone to see whether or not massage or myotherapy could help please give us a call or book in online or download the app.