What do headaches mean and how can I treat them?

The pounding in your head. Having trouble focusing on your work. Stiffness in your neck. All these symptoms are typical when you have a headache. 

It’s not even all that unlikely that you’ve experienced them. Medical research indicates that about 50% of people experience at least one headache a year. Understanding what your headaches mean can go a long way toward treating them and even helping you avoid them. Our physical therapists can help you develop such an understanding of your headaches. 

Your headaches could mean that you’re dealing with one of these factors

Pinpointing the cause of any medical condition is a key factor in treating it, and this includes the treatment of headaches. There are many factors that can cause you to develop a headache, and our physical therapists can help reveal the specific causes of your headaches. 

Some of the things your headache could mean are that you’re: 

• Stressed out — Stress tends to reduce blood flow and cause tension in the muscles. These factors can affect the neck and head muscles and trigger a headache. 

• Dehydrated — Staying properly hydrated is important for many reasons. One of them is that dehydration can be a source of headaches. 

• Sitting with poor posture — Poor head and neck posture is common. One medical study reveals that almost 64% of university students have forward head posture. This form of poor posture places increased strain on neck muscles, which can trigger headaches. 

Other factors that could be behind your headaches include: 

• Neck injuries
• Jaw joint issues
• Lack of sleep
• Dietary issues
• Concussion
• Sinus infections
• Ear infections

Armor Physical Therapy can help you figure out what your headaches mean

Want to find out what your headaches mean? Turn to our Armor Physical Therapy team. We can perform a free screening for you, and this screening can help pinpoint the specific cause(s) of your headaches. Our team also excels at building therapy plans designed to treat headache symptoms. We can even help you learn how to prevent future headaches. 

Things keeping you at home? Our team is currently offering virtual care and at-home therapy services. In addition, you won’t have to leave home to get a doctor’s referral because we don’t require one for any of our services. 

Ready to start getting our help with your headaches? Contact us today for more information about how we can help or to schedule your initial appointment.