Better Than Advil: How Massage Helps Headaches

Headaches can come from a number of factors, but some of the most common are a simple result of stress. Called tension headaches, these can be incredibly painful and impact people that have been under large amounts of stress for long periods of time. Thankfully, massage can help relieve these types of headaches by relaxing muscle spasms and stress trigger points.
Therapeutic massage can relax the pressure brought on during migraine or tension-related headaches. Massages that focus on the head, neck and shoulders, especially, can decrease the pain and tension of these headaches.

Stimulating the Nervous System

Massages can serve as a great proactive measure for anyone that has regular headaches. Massage can help a body maintain an optimal level of relaxation to ward off any potential stress that can lead to a painful headache down the road.

A therapeutic massage will also help stimulate the body's nervous system. Doing so releases a number of hormones and chemicals into the body, including serotonin. Serotonin helps people feel happy and calm, along with making it easier to fall asleep. Additional sleep can usually help people with tension headaches to relaxing, reducing or eliminating the cause of many of their headaches.

The Right Muscles

From a physical standpoint, masseuses can massage the trapezius muscles that connect the shoulder to the neck to the back. People with chronic headaches can also stretch this muscle themselves using a variety of techniques.

Headaches can be a difficult thing to fight as they come on for a variety of reasons, but since they are so strong, most people will do anything possible to get rid of them once they appear. Thankfully massage can be a great treatment for headaches, either to help get rid of them once they appear or as a proactive measure. A professional masseuse can work with you on the types of massages you need based on your headaches, so there is no need to continue to live in pain.