Arie Michaeli MSc shares his personal experience treating this disabling condition.

You Are Not Alone.

Neck tension headaches may affect at least 70% of the general population. Tension headache is a true 21st century condition. It's a common complaint that's often dismissed as "just a headache" by sufferers and non-sufferers alike. But it deserves more respect because it can adversely affect your ability to perform everyday functions.

What Is Neck Tension Headache?

Neck tension headache usually occurs at the base of the skull, across the forehead or at the temples. The pain is usually a dull ache or a kind of pressure or a 'squeezing' sensation.

In mild cases, the headache develops during or after recognisable stress, although sufferers are not able to pinpoint the cause. The headaches may be only occasional and last for short periods or in more severe cases may last for several days. However, the joints and muscles of the neck are always involved.

Some Headache Sufferers Show Symptoms of:

• Chronic muscle contraction: -
  nodules and aching at the base of the skull, between the shoulder blades, on top of the shoulders; grinding teeth; and tenderness at the temples.
  
  
• Stress, mild anxiety or depression:-
  morning nausea, light-headedness and poor concentration.
  

What Triggers an Attack?

• Painful and stiff upper neck resulting from:-
  sustained sitting position or whiplash injury.
  
  
• Poor Posture:-
  a poking chin, hunched -up shoulders and shortened neck muscles typical among people who work at sedentary repetitive tasks like working on a computer:-
  
  
• Stress:-
  this is a condition of the 21st century.
  
  
• Lack of regular aerobic exercises!

Treatment:

"Your Pain Relief is in Our Hands"

While your headache is unlikely to be caused by a truly serious medical condition such as a brain tumour – although this should be checked out with your doctor – it is still a condition that requires attention. Left untreated, it will only get worse.

It's important to understand that your headache is the result of an underlying chronic muscle contraction. Yet most of us treat tension headaches by popping a painkiller. In severe cases injections and even surgery may be recommended. However, longer lasting and less invasive relief can be achieved when treatment is directed at relieving muscle tension in the neck, jaw and scalp muscles.

Your physiotherapist is equipped to identify and treat these painful joints and muscles using a variety of "hands-on" techniques.

"Physiotherapy for neck tension headaches will reduce your dependency on pain killers, injections and may eliminate the need for surgery, enabling you to get on with your life without debilitating tension headaches" says Arie Michaeli from the Physio Joint and Knee Clinic.