Headaches: Why Understanding the Muscles Matters
Headaches can have many different causes. But when muscular tension is part of the picture, simply working on the place where you feel the pain or tension may not tell the whole story.
It may feel good to massage around your head when you're experiencing tension or head pain. But it's also important to look beyond the head and understand the muscles in the neck and upper back that may be contributing to the overall pattern.
Don't Just Focus Where You Feel the Tension
When you're experiencing a headache, it can be natural to focus your attention directly on your head.
But muscles don't work in isolation.
Several muscles in and around the neck and upper back can influence how you experience tension in the head and neck. Learning where these muscles are and understanding how they relate to one another can give you a more complete approach to self-massage.
Some of the muscles we discuss include:
Temporalis
The temporalis is a broad muscle located on the side of the skull, around the temple area. Because of its location, it is one of the muscles people may naturally think about when dealing with tension around the head.
Suboccipital Muscles
The small muscles at the base of the skull—the suboccipital muscles—are located where the back of the head meets the upper neck. Understanding this area is an important part of looking beyond the immediate location of head pain.
Levator Scapulae
The levator scapulae runs between the upper shoulder blade and the neck. It's one of the muscles we want to understand when taking a broader look at neck and upper-back tension.
Trapezius
The trapezius is a large muscle extending across the upper back and neck. Because of its size and location, it is another important muscle to understand when developing a head-to-toe approach to self-massage.
Sternocleidomastoid
The sternocleidomastoid, or SCM, is a prominent muscle along the front and side of the neck. It connects the skull with the sternum and clavicle and plays an important role in head and neck movement. Understanding this muscle can be useful when looking at patterns of tension involving the neck and head.
Think Beyond the Head
The goal isn't simply to find a muscle and press harder.
It's to learn your body.
When you understand where muscles are located, how they relate to surrounding structures, and how to approach them with appropriate self-massage techniques, you can develop a more thoughtful approach to working with muscular tension.
That's why I teach a head-to-toe approach rather than focusing only on the place where you happen to feel discomfort.
Learn Your Body. Learn Self-Massage.
These are several of the muscles we discuss in the Free 5-Day Self-Massage Training.
Over five days, you'll begin learning more about your muscles, how they're connected, and how to develop your own self-massage practice.
Ready to learn more?
Start the Free 5-Day Self-Massage Training
Visit TPSWellness.net to join the free program.
Learn your body. Learn self-massage.
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