anyone know anything about tight neck muscles?

Hi Irish Pride,

I am new to this but have been dealing with a headache for 3 months straight. Some days I know the headache is coming from my neck muscles and some not. I know it is not too much fun and I am sorry you have this going on, but I do know for a fact that tight neck muscles can cause headaches and head tightness and that you would feel it more in the head than the neck. Your probably used to the neck pain or its the fact that the neck muscle is larger and constantly working to keep your head up straight where your scalp muscles dont typically work under stress all day long and when they are affected like that can not recover as easily as the neck.
In the back of the head, neck muscles attach to the base of your skull. There are many nerves that run up and around the scalp at this location and like all nerves can become irritated due to swelling which will cause pain and headaches. If the neck muscles are tight due to stress or anxiety, the headache and scalp pain could be from the muscles putting too much pressure on the nerves making them "wig out" for a lack of better term. One thing I would try that has worked on occasion for me is an ice pack and some light stretching. I have also tried some message therapy and heat, but I do find that heat worsens it as the tight muscles that have irritated the base of the skull tend to be inflamed and the heat only exacerbates the inflammation, but everyone is different and find relief in different ways. I also suggest some PT. I did 4 weeks of PT when my headaches first started to take control of my daily life and it helped a bunch to teach me ways to stretch and loosen my neck up from stress.
Do you have any new stress or anxiety causing the tight muscles?? Do you have a new pillow or mattress? Also, rate your posture. Posture is one thing I found that caused a ton of neck and muscular issues for me when I went to PT. my posture was horrible and totally slouched forward. This puts a ton of stress on your neck and back of the head.



Hope this helps and I hope you feel better.

Hi Irish!

Neck/shoulder pain can absolutely cause head pain. Years ago I was having sharp stabbing pains in my head that scared me so badly I ended up in the ER. After a few tests it was determined that I had a pinched nerve in my neck. I was prescribed muscle relaxers, started going to a chiropractor and started getting massages every 6 weeks.

Those pains went away and when they do come back, I just treat them the same way!

Good luck!!

Thank you all for the replies it makes me a little less anxious knowing that causes those problems ! Tonight will be my first night trying a muscle relaxer. Hopefully it works ! Hopefully we all heal soon !!