Chronic Headaches Holding You Back? Here Comes PT To The Rescue!
Stress-related headaches can severely impair your quality of life, preventing you from doing your job, spending time with your family, or going about your business in any way. As your headaches obstruct your ability to perform routine tasks, things can start to add up on your to-do list, and you may soon feel as if you’ve lost all control over your ability to complete even the most basic tasks—which can add more stress to your plate!
It’s a vicious loop that can leave you feeling like you have no escape, but there is a way out.
Physical therapy can help you to overcome stress-related headaches. Working with a physical therapist can help you identify exercises that reduce tension and help you find long-term relief from headaches, without the need for reliance on pain medications.
Why do stress-related headaches occur?
Stress can manifest in all sorts of ways, and finding ways around it isn’t always an option. Stress and physical tension can build from a wide array of activities, and some of those activities may be things that you genuinely enjoy doing, but that doesn’t mean that they aren’t weighing on you, creating an added level of pressure that can manifest in painful headaches.
Stress is a common trigger for tension and migraine headaches. Rather than stressing about ways that you can outright avoid stress, it may be more helpful to think about strategies that will help alleviate headaches once they develop—as well as stress reduction techniques that may prevent the stress from reaching your head in the first place.
What can I do to relax and rid myself of stress?
If stress is producing headaches in your life, finding strategies to relax and minimize the stress build-up may be beneficial. Meditation, yoga, tai chi, and deep breathing techniques are some of the most prominent forms of stress reduction therapy. Listening to music, dancing, exercising, reading a book, or spending time with loved ones—especially pets—are all good ways to relieve stress.
Here are a few lifestyle habits that are shown to reduce stress:
- Eat as healthy as possible. What you put into your body makes a big impact on what your body can handle. Try eating a diet that is rich in fruits, vegetables, and whole grains to help prepare your body for the stress you need it to handle.
- Do what is feasible. While it sometimes feels that the only way to manage stress is to squeeze as much into a day so that you can tackle your endless to-do list, sometimes what you need is to simplify your life. Ask yourself what needs to be done and focus on that.
- Get enough sleep. Sleep isn’t something that can be compromised when it comes to managing stress. Staying up late to get a task done is only going to lead to more stress. Try to get a sufficient amount of sleep daily so that you can handle what’s ahead.
Working on modifying your response to stressors is one of the most effective ways to help lessen the impact that stress has on your life. Changing your mindset and becoming more open to things that used to freak you out can make a big difference in how your body handles stressful situations.
Try making simple shifts in the way that you think about stressful events. Simply shift from considering something as “impossible” to “tough, but possible.” Look at ways that you can rise to a challenge versus how overwhelming the challenge feels.
How can a physical therapy plan help with stress headaches?
If you’re suffering from chronic headaches as a result of stress, physical therapy could be able to help you get some relief. Stress headaches are frequently the result of strain in the neck and back. Working with a physical therapist can assist you in identifying areas of stress, reducing discomfort, and improving your quality of life.
There are several strategies that physical therapists often use to help with stress headaches. These include:
- Massage: Identifying areas that have tension build-up and targeting them with massage therapy can help to alleviate head pain.
- Hot and cold therapy: Applying hot and cold compresses in an alternating rotation can help to reduce tension and alleviate pain.
- Manual exercises: Your physical therapist can help you to identify exercises that will help you reduce tension naturally by improving your range of motion and stretching your muscles in a relaxing manner.
Call our clinic today
If you’re suffering from chronic headaches as a result of stress, physical therapy could be able to help you get some relief. Working with a physical therapist can assist you in identifying areas of stress, reducing discomfort, and improving your quality of life. Call our clinic today to learn more about our therapeutic techniques and how they can help you find much-needed pain relief!