Stress-Related Headaches Can Be Difficult to Live With: Consult With a PT Today

Daily stress can add up to the point where you feel physically ill. This is what happens when stress-related headaches occur: it’s your body’s way of showing a physical reaction to overwhelming stress. Pain-management drugs can help in the short term, but they won’t fix the underlying issue. The next time you have a stress-related headache, it’s worth considering physical therapy before reaching for the aspirin.

How can I tell if my headache is stress-related?

One of the main causes of stress-related headaches is right there in the name: stress. The headache generally happens when the muscles in the neck or scalp become tense and contract. It’s often the everyday grind, sitting in traffic, tolerating everyday annoyances at work, that triggers this type of headache, and stiffening your shoulders or tensing your muscles can make it worse.

Depression and anxiety are similar emotions to stress that can also lead to headaches. There may also be a physical cause: an accident or injury to the neck or back can contribute, and poor posture and arthritis are two other potential causes.

Why did my stress-related headaches develop?

Stress-related headaches can cause pressure, tightness, and pain around the back of the head and neck and around the forehead: it may feel like a clamp squeezing your head. There are two types. Episodic tension headaches occur less than 15 days per month. Chronic tension headaches occur more than 15 days a month and can last from 30 minutes to several days. Often these headaches begin gradually, likely in the middle of the day, and the pain may ease up or get stronger but is always there. Up to 80% of Americans experience stress-related headaches from time to time.

How can physical therapy help me relieve my stress-related headaches?

Physical therapy is often the best treatment for stress-related headaches, focusing on promoting relaxation alongside prescribed exercises. Your physical therapist can help you get to the bottom of the problem, and your treatment plan will likely include a combination of methods, including but not limited to:

• Exercises that strengthen and loosen your neck muscles to help ease the stresses that set off your headaches.
• Manual techniques to correct skeletal misalignment issues that place your neck muscles under unnatural strain, which can also help reduce headache attacks.
• Laser therapy and massage therapy to relax tight neck tissue and speed recovery to injured muscles.
• Corrective exercises and postural or ergonomic changes to help you avoid “text neck” and other occupational headache triggers.
• If your headaches result from a recent concussion, a carefully administered course of physical therapy can help you recover from that concussion more quickly.
• Identifying other headache triggers and strategies for avoiding them in your everyday life.

A physical therapist addresses the physical aspects of a stress-related headache with hands-on manual massage and soft tissue mobilization, both of which increase blood flow to the tissue and reduce myofascial trigger points. Treatment may also include cold and heat therapy to ease muscle strain and provide soothing relief.

Often, a physical therapist will evaluate your posture to help lessen the stress on your muscles, and may recommend lifestyle changes, at-home exercises, and modifications to your workstation at work and home. The goal of physical therapy is to treat the root cause of your stress-related headache.

Want to learn more about relieving the frequency and severity of your stress-related headaches? Call Zone Physical Therapy today, and we’ll set up an evaluation and suggest a specific treatment plan to help you live a pain-free life.