Find Relief from Headaches and Get Back to Your Normal Routine
Headaches can make it difficult to concentrate, work, exercise, sleep, or enjoy time with family and friends. For some people, problems involving the neck and surrounding muscles and joints may contribute to headache symptoms. If headaches are interfering with your life in West Valley City, Tooele in Northpointe, Tooele on Main Street and Grantsville, UT, physical therapy at Meier & Marsh Physical Therapy can help determine whether a musculoskeletal problem may be contributing.
Our physical therapists look closely at the pattern of your headaches, including when they occur, what brings them on, and whether neck movement changes your symptoms. This helps us determine whether a neck-related problem may be contributing and whether physical therapy is the right treatment.
Understanding Headaches
There are many different types and causes of headaches. Some require medical management, while others may have musculoskeletal contributors that can be addressed through physical therapy.
One type that may respond to physical therapy is a cervicogenic headache, which is a headache associated with a problem involving the neck.
Headaches may also occur alongside:
- Neck pain or stiffness
- Limited neck movement
- Tender or sensitive muscles around the neck
- Symptoms that change with neck movement or position
- Previous neck injuries
- Repetitive or prolonged activities that bother the neck
Not every headache comes from the neck. The way your headache behaves provides important clues about whether the neck may be involved.
How Headaches Can Affect Your Daily Life
Frequent or persistent headaches may interfere with activities you normally take for granted.
We want to know which situations tend to bring on your headaches and whether neck pain or stiffness appears at the same time. We also look at what you have stopped or changed because of your symptoms.
You may have difficulty:
- Concentrating at work or school
- Working at a computer
- Reading
- Turning your head while driving
- Exercising
- Sleeping comfortably
- Completing household activities
- Participating in hobbies
- Spending time with family and friends
- Getting through your normal day without interruption
A Detailed Assessment Helps Determine What May Be Contributing
A headache assessment begins with your history. Where you feel the headache, how it starts, what makes it better or worse, and whether symptoms change with neck movement can all provide useful information.
When a neck-related headache is suspected, your physical therapist may assess:
- Neck range of motion
- Neck, upper back, and shoulder mobility
- Muscle strength
- Joint movement
- Movements or positions that change your symptoms
- Special tests when appropriate
- Activities related to work, exercise, or daily life
The goal is to determine whether your neck appears to be contributing to your headache pattern and identify the physical findings that should guide treatment.
If your headache characteristics point to a problem outside the scope of physical therapy, we will recommend additional medical evaluation.
Treatment That Matches Your Headache Findings
Treatment is selected according to the problems identified during your assessment. A person whose headaches change with restricted neck movement may need a different approach from someone whose symptoms are affected by weakness or difficulty tolerating certain activities.
As your headache pattern changes, we can modify treatment and progress the activities that previously gave you trouble.
Treatment may include:
- Specific exercises selected according to your movement and symptom response
- Mobility exercises when neck or upper back movement is limited
- Strengthening to improve the capacity of the neck and surrounding areas
- Manual therapy when appropriate
- Movement retraining for tasks that consistently aggravate symptoms
- Changes to aggravating activities while you build greater tolerance
- Education to help you understand your headache pattern and manage contributing factors
- Home exercises that reinforce the work you do in therapy
Getting Back to Work, Exercise, and Everyday Activities
For many patients, headache relief is important because of what it allows them to do again.
You may want to concentrate through a workday, use your computer comfortably, turn your head while driving, exercise, sleep better, or enjoy your normal routine without headaches repeatedly interrupting it.
Treatment can progress toward the specific movements and activities that matter most to you.
Clinical Expertise to Determine the Right Treatment
Headaches require careful assessment because physical therapy is appropriate for some causes, but not all of them.
At Meier & Marsh Physical Therapy, our physical therapists pay attention to the details of your symptoms and how your neck responds during examination. If the findings indicate a musculoskeletal contributor, we can prescribe treatment directed at those specific problems and explain why each part of your plan is being used.
If your headache pattern indicates that another healthcare provider should be involved, we will point you in the right direction.
Frequently Asked Questions
Take the Next Step Toward Headache Relief
If headaches occur along with neck pain, stiffness, or changes in movement, it is worth finding out whether the two are connected.
Contact Meier & Marsh Physical Therapy today to schedule an evaluation for headaches in West Valley City, Tooele in Northpointe, Tooele on Main Street or Grantsville, UT. We can assess the pattern of your symptoms, determine whether your neck may be contributing, and help you get back to your normal activities with the right treatment.
Your Next Steps…
- Request An Appointment
- Receive A Custom Treatment Plan
- Work Hard and Progress In Your Recovery
- Recover & Enjoy Life Pain-Free
