Dry Needling for Tension Headaches

Headaches can be one of the most annoying, agonizing pains you can have. They can disrupt your day and disrupt your thinking. Headaches can even cause you to be nauseous and dizzy. Headaches are also associated with neck, jaw and ear pain.

Why do headaches occur?

Most of the time headaches are associated with stress, lack of sleep, poor posture, and muscular imbalances in your shoulder and neck. Muscular imbalances and poor posture tend to lead to active triggerpoints in your muscle which in turn lead to tension headaches.

Active triggerpoints found in shoulder and neck muscles will usually be tender to the touch and refer pain to other parts of your body, like your head. The muscular attachment points on the base of your skull-causes tension that refers the headache pain all the way to your temples or behind your eye. If triggerpoints are not treated correctly they can turn a periodic tension headache into a chronic headache.

Triggerpoint Dry Needling is one the best ways to treat tension headaches. Dry needling is a procedure that involves inserting a thin filament needle through the skin into the triggerpoint located in the muscle. This causes the triggerpoint to release and elicits an involuntary twitch response. Dry needling is always done in conjunction with other physical therapy interventions and followed up with corrective exercises. After a session of dry needling, you will notice an increase in range of motion of your head and shoulder, decrease in pain  which will in turn relieve your tension headaches.

Dry Needling

Upper Trapezius

If you have been struggling with tension headaches and ready to get rid of them call Restore Physical Therapy today at 401-250-3060 or book an appointment online at here .