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Migraine Headache
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Posted 2/15/2011 4:43 AM (GMT 0)

I was told by a physiotherapist that the muscles at the sides of my neck are extremely tight and that I tend to hold my head forward. She feels this is this the major contributing factor to my almost daily mgraines. 

Has anyone else been told this or received exercises to do to correct this faulty head position?

Posted 2/17/2011 12:00 AM (GMT 0)
harrietgate,

My son has NDPH and at one time a neurologist that he was seeing mentioned the forward posture thing too and sent him to P.T. but it did not really help at all. His muscles are tight also and his neck does bother him from time to time. It does sometimes aggrevate his headache. Out of curiousity, are you extremely flexible? Many people with NDPH are very flexible. My son can bend his thumb and touch his arm with it. Interestingly, it was one of the first questions his neurologist asked. I have no idea if there is a connection with migraine.
Posted 2/17/2011 3:00 AM (GMT 0)
Harriet, your PT could be correct. A lot of us migraineurs/headache-y individuals have tight trapezius muscles, which can certainly irritate the nerves in that region (eg occipital nerve). It's actually one of the area's that doctors inject botox into. Have the PT exercises helped at all?

Here are a couple (but certainly not all) conditions which would fit with your symptoms: Cervicogenic headache, chronic daily headache, chronic migraine and occipital neuralgia. Along with a thorough medical history and more detailed descriptions of your pain patterns, a headache specialist would be able to give you the proper diagnosis.

Each of these diagnosis's has slightly different treatments. For cervicogenic headache, PT is an integral part of the treatment.



Best of luck!

Post Edited (EvilFluorescents) : 2/16/2011 9:38:16 PM (GMT-7)

Posted 2/19/2011 2:49 PM (GMT 0)
Thanks so much for answering, Missy and EvilF!!

No I am not flexible, quite the contrary I think.  This is my own fault as I have tended to restrict movement in case I might 'do' something to my neck and start migraine.

Yes, EF, I think the cervicogenic thing is right.  I have been for nerve blocks and they are not a resounding success.  The ones put in the C1 2 3 4 and the trapezius have been very irritating.  Now I have 2 problems.  Daily migraine + sore neck and shoulders.

The good thing is finding all ths people here who are empathetic and sympathetic. Let's face it, this is where we get our best information from ---one another.

tongue  

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