3 Reasons for your Migraine

1. Forward Head Posture: We live in a very forward-driven society. Laptops, cell phones, and tablets are at our disposal. Our world is designed to be right in front of us! Unfortunately, this leaves billions of people in forward head posture, placing undue stress on the neck. In a neutral position, an adult head weighs around 10-12 lbs. As the head tilts forward, the forces on the neck can increase to an incredible 60 lbs! This is especially important since we spend almost 2-4 hours a day bent over a phone or tablet.

Not being mindful of our head position can eventually lead to a loss of the natural curve of the neck, which can lead to a further increase in the amount of load on your poor neck muscles. Your neck is your heads best friend, be kind to it! For more information:https://cbsminnesota.files.wordpress.com/2014/11/spine-study.pdf

2. Bad breathing: Women, we are especially guilty of this! Place your hand on your chest and your stomach. Take a deep breath in. Your stomach should push against your hand, followed by expansion in your chest. If you’re doing the opposite (sucking in the stomach) when taking a deep breath in, your breathing may need some work! Our diaphragm is one of the strongest muscles in the body. Its job is to descend into the abdominal cavity when breathing deeply. If you’re sucking in, this muscle cannot do its job properly and your neck and shoulder muscles take over. The problem is these muscles are accessory muscles; they help out, but aren’t meant to do the grunt of the work. This can lead to tension in your UFT, levator scapulae and scalenes, which can cause severe headaches!

3. Stress:  As humans, we can have physiological responses to strong emotions. For example, extreme sadness can cause crying, an increase in your breathing rate, boogers and a flushed face. Incredibly, these are all caused by an emotion! When it comes to stress, the physiological markers may not be as transparent. However, most people tend to hold their stress in their shoulders (re: UFT, levator scapulae). Now imagine being stressed for days, weeks, months and YEARS! This can lead to hyper-facilitated muscles with nasty trigger points. So, if a deadline is approaching and you suddenly get hit by a nasty headache, stress may be your culprit!

Originally written by Bailey Gresham, RPT.