The Squeezing Pain Of Tension Headaches And Chiropractic Care

By Patricia Janis Thom

Tension headaches are characterized by a mild to moderate level of pain that feels like a tight band has been placed around the head. In medical circles, this is called a tension-type headache and though it is the most common type of headache experienced, there is little knowledge of what causes it. Effective treatments are available and include several different approaches.

Though healthcare experts don't believe that muscle contractions cause this pain, sufferers often report that as though it feels this way. Symptoms include dull, aching pain and a feeling of pressure or tightness across the frontal area, back and temples of the head. The tops of the shoulders, the neck, and even the scalp may become sensitive and some people have appetite loss when the pain sets in. The condition may last only half an hour or as long as a week.

Intensity of pain varies greatly between patients and even from one headache to the next. Some patients report only periodic onset while others experience this type of headache nearly constantly. If the headaches occur for at least 15 days each month for three months or longer, it then becomes a condition that is considered chronic. Otherwise, the condition is labeled episodic. Those suffering from frequent episodic tension headaches are of increased chance of becoming chronic.

Distinguishing between this condition and a migraine may be difficult. A significant difference is that a tension-type headache is not usually associated with nausea, visual disturbances, slurred speech, numbness or weakness of one side of the body, vomiting, or abdominal pain. Physical activity also does not typically aggravate the discomfort as it does with a migraine. Sensitivity to sound or light is not common as in the case of migraine headache.

Stress, anxiety, depression, clenching the jaw, and poor posture can trigger the pain. Common theories regarding a cause involve interference of nerve pathways to the brain exhibited as heightened sensitivity to pain. If the condition becomes disruptive to the lifestyle or requires taking medication more than two times in a week, consultation with a medical professional is recommended. Medical attention is also advisable if the pattern or feeling of the pain changes. A headache can sometimes be an indication of a serious medical problem such as an aneurysm or brain tumor.

Extremely sensitive, overactive pain receptors in the body may lead to muscle tenderness that many headache sufferers experience. Good posture is imperative as it can help reduce tension of the muscles, and other soft tissue like tendons, and ligaments. Proper posture normalizes and protects the entire body and allows for efficient movement. Chiropractic care to the upper cervical spine (which are the top bones of the neck) has been shown to relieve irritated joints and nerves that may contribute to this condition.

A study published in the Journal of Manipulative and Physiological Therapeutics treated patients suffering from tension headaches with six weeks of medication or chiropractic care. Both groups reported reduced headache frequency and intensity. The patients treated with chiropractic care experienced fewer side effects and noted continued relief after the conclusion of the treatment. The patients who took the medication reported that their headache pain had returned.

About the Author:

Patricia Janis Thom is an author writing about health related topics. Are you looking for Pittsburgh North chiropractic? Get more information about chiropractic Pittsburgh North.

Tension versus Compression The Safety Line for Yoga

by Baxter

An essential ability to cultivate when adding yoga asana to your health regimen is the differentiation between sensations that are potentially good for you, such as the healthy stretch of a tight muscle, and those that are potentially injurious to you, such as overstretching a tendon or ligament, or compressing structures to the point of injury. We are going for the former and trying to avoid the later.

Two of these sensation creators, tension of a stretched muscle and compression of soft tissue or bony prominences, have been the subject of a quite fascinating yoga video by Paul Grilley, entitled “Anatomy of Yoga.”I viewed this DVD many years ago now, but this essential differentiation between feeling tension and compression and its importance to practicing safely has stayed with me. I’ll let Paul tell you more about it in this youtube video:

Experiencing tension or stretch sensation in a muscle is generally a desirable feeling to become familiar with, especially if it is experienced in the mid-portion of a muscle, farther away from the almost inelastic tendons and ligaments that tend to be located closer to the joints. A typical place to become familiar with this kind of body sensation is the hamstring muscle at the back of the upper legs. I chose this intentionally because it is an area that most students feel some sensation when in Downward-Facing Dog or Standing Forward Bend, just to name a few poses that stretch the hamstrings. As most of you know, the intensity of the stretch sensation can be quite strong, and yet it usually does not mean you are injuring yourself. 

The hamstrings are located on the posterior part of the hip joint, so when we are doing a stretch of this muscle group, the structures on the opposite side of the joint, here being the front of the hip joint, are brought into close proximity to one another in Standing Forward Bend. The closer the pelvic bone and the femur bone come together, the greater the chance for everything in between those two bones are to be compressed or smashed together. As far as differentiating between the sensations of stretch and compression, my personal experience is that they feel distinctly different.  Compression really does feel like things (muscles, skin, tendons, ligaments, fascia and bones) are getting smashed together. And sometimes it creates a kind of pinching sensation as well. This pinching sensation is one that I tend to back away from pretty quickly if it shows up in any yoga poses. And because compression could also put collapsing pressure on blood vessels and nerves, if you start to have an unusual pressure sensation in the joint, or start getting numbness and tingling downstream from the compressed area, that is another good indication to release out of the pose a bit.

The hip joint, especially the front of the hip, is one of the main areas to watch out for this.  Poses like Lunge pose and Pigeon pose are two regularly practiced poses where you’d want to be alert to unusual pressure, numbness or tingling kinds of feelings in the front leg. The good news is that if you do experience compression sensations, propping up just a bit higher could completely relieve the more worrisome kind of compression that could lead to injury. As an example, if you normally do Lunge pose with your palms flat on the floor, coming up onto your fingertips or, even better, onto a pair of blocks, might slightly open the front hip joint and relieve the compression. 

Lunge Pose using Fingertips

The same thing goes for Pigeon pose; by setting yourself up on folded blankets, with a block or a bolster under the front leg sitting bone, you can probably relieve compression in the front hip joint. Other joints may be less likely to experience compression, but one that I watch out for is the front leg in Triangle pose (Trikonasana) and Pyramid pose (Parsvottanasana) at the back of the ankle joint. This is especially likely to pinch if the feet are too far apart. If the knees are generally healthy, compression of the back of the joint, such as in Child's pose, is not usually an issue for most students. 

Another place that painful compression is often experienced, especially by male students, is in the shoulder joint while doing Upward Bow pose (Urdva Dhanurasana).  Many men have limited flexion of the arm bone at the shoulder joint, and when they follow typical instructions to keep the elbows in while coming up into Upward Bow, they are unable to fully straighten the elbows, not because of elbow issues, but because the back of the shoulder joint experiences a painful compressive pinch.

It is important, as you master the basic yoga poses and begin to try out some of the more challenging poses, to take your time and notice where you feel sensation while in the postures. By once again focusing on mindfulness in your poses, you are more likely to notice poses that are not feeling “right” to you, so you can bring this to the attention of your teacher for recommendations on how to modify properly. Be patient with yourself, allow for slow steady progress in the mastery of your poses, and you will begin to discern the differences between tension in a muscle and compression around a joint.

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