In the hustle and bustle of our busy life, each one of us must have experienced an awful situation where we have a bundle of work piled up or where we yearn for a peaceful sleep after an exhausting day or maybe we want to do an outing with our beloved, yet all these work comes to halt because of just one simple reason and that is ‘a headache’. Headaches have become a common problem for most of us, as it is complementary to our stressful, busy life, but the question remains ‘do we really understand what our headache indicates?’

In simple terms, when we experience painful sensation in any part of our head that is sometimes spread through our face, head or even neck is it called a headache. However, it is not as simple as it appears. Headache is an ancient element and when we try to decode it to understand better, we get the two categories in which headaches are divided, primary headaches and secondary headaches. The former is not caused by any disease in the body or any other body problem, they are themselves stand-alone problems that are associated directly with over-activity, the problem in the structure of head or chemical activity of the brain. The later is actually the result of underlying body condition, an illness’, triggers coming from dehydration, head and neck injury, heart disease and a lot more. Doctors have classified over 150 diagnosable secondary headaches, each one having its own causes and cures.

Let’s shift our focus to one such secondary headache, called ‘cervicogenic headache’. Cervicogenic headache is a type of headache that has got its roots in the neck and it triggers a pain that goes all the way through the neck to the back of the head. We may often confuse it with migraine and tension headaches. If you are experiencing a cervicogenic headache, you may notice some visible symptoms like the reduced range of motion in the neck, your vision may blur, you experience pain in one side of the face or head and most commonly you experience pain and stiffness in your neck.

So, once you find out that you are actually experiencing a cervicogenic headache, what’s next? No problem comes without a solution. Different types of diagnoses are available for cervicogenic headaches like medication, Transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation (TENS), Radiofrequency ablation, Neuromodulation, Nerve block, Physiotherapy and some home remedies like yoga and breathing techniques.

Having access to too many alternatives, not every diagnosis seems feasible. However, physiotherapy is one such diagnosis that is adapted rapidly by the patients suffering from this headache condition and it comes with no side-effects. We may understand physiotherapy simply as a science-based healthcare treatment that is assisted by healthcare professionals to restore body movement or function. As physiotherapy is being rapidly acceptable by people for their body treatment, you will find many physiotherapy clinics in Hamilton to assist your needs.

Tough, you need assistance from healthcare specialists for physiotherapy for cervicogenic headache for which physiotherapy clinics in Hamilton are available, yet there are some physiotherapy exercises that you can try out. You need to work on your neck posture for which tries to avoid slouched posture in prolonged sitting. Sit straight and tall and hold the posture for 10 seconds to relieve the strains on muscles. The second thing you can do is to pull your chin backward that triggers the movement of your neck, hold it up for about 5-10 seconds and come back to your original position and repeat the process.

The next thing you want to do is to massage the area back of your head at the upper side of your neck. You just need to take two fingers of both of your hands and move the fingers that repeal each other in direction. If you find it difficult then you can simply do it in a circular motion with the help of your fingers. Simple stretches of your neck can also help in relieving the pain. Suggested by Dr. Jo “ you can simply and gently stretch your neck by bringing down your chin and stay in this position for 5-10 seconds, after that look back to the ceiling by lifting the chin position and stay there for 5-10 seconds. You need to repeat the process in the straight line and avoid moving your neck sideways in this process.”

Physiotherapy is best done in the physiotherapy clinics in Hamilton. Physiotherapy is proven to be the safest diagnosis of cervicogenic headaches. Next time, when your head pounds or your world start to spin accompanied by strains in your neck, don’t forget to look for a physiotherapist easily available in the physiotherapy clinics in Hamilton, because your headaches shouldn’t be your life long companions.