Photo: Breakingmuscle.com
If you’ve ever struggled with a tension headache, you know all too well how debilitating it can be. Poor posture, inadequate rest and repetitive strain can be causes for people in the general population, but for athletes each of these is magnified due to the tremendous stress that sports put on the body. Whether you’re a pro, a weekend warrior or anywhere in between, you can’t let tension headaches take over your life. That’s why we’ve enlisted the help of an expert.
Jill Miller is the founder of Yoga Tune Up, the author of the NYT bestselling book The Roll Model and one of the leaders of the “self care” movement that’s empowering people to deal with their own soft tissue issues without the costs and hassle of traditional medical treatment. When we asked Miller about tension headaches, she told us that people need to address lifestyle factors such as sleep and recovery, and examine how they’re moving to see if faulty patterns are a contributing factor. Static posture is also an important consideration.
We also need to think more deeply (literally) about what’s going on in our bodies that triggers tension headaches.
“When you get a headache, you automatically reach around to rub the back of the neck or the traps,” Miller said. “But most of us don’t think about how short the tissues of the front or side of the neck have become, or consider the impact of tension in the deeper fascial layers of the head, neck, and jaw.”
Fascia are web-like layers of connective tissues that run across the body underneath the muscles we usually target during mobility work. If there’s tension in one spot along the fascial line, this pulls above and below it, which can cause tension headaches. Chronic headaches can also be caused by repeated torquing of the dura mater membrane that surrounds the spinal cord, which is where that horrible nerve pain or flu-like ache from the back of the head down the spine comes from. In reverse, tightness in the soft tissues can also clamp down on nerves. Miller provided four exercises that can help combat these symptoms and help you get back to playing your sport and living life without your head feeling like it’s in a vise: (note that these moves won’t work for everyone and if they make symptoms worse, then stop)
Photos: Courtesy Jill MIller
Abdominal Massage
Your go-to tactic for relieving headaches should be to lie down and take 30 to 40 controlled diaphragm breaths. The trouble is that many of us are so matted down in our abdominals that our capacity to do this is limited. Using a tool like the Yoga Tune Up Coregeous Ball to massage the area not only improves diaphragm function, but also stimulates the vagus nerve, which helps the body move from the sympathetic (stress) state that exacerbates headaches into the parasympathetic, or recovery, state.
To do it:
—Lie face down on a mat, place the ball on your abs and slowly roll from side to side and diagonally across it. You can also just take deep belly breaths.
—Work all the way up from your pelvis to your sternum, and don’t forget the obliques on the sides
— Collect at least 10 minutes
Supra-Clavicle Release
In today’s tech-obsessed society, many of us spend hours in a forward head on neck position texting and staring at tablets. This lengthens tissues at the back of the neck and also shortens anterior (front) and lateral (side) structures such as the scalenes and sternocleidomastoid. Applying pressure at the supra-clavicle point not only releases tension in these tissues but also stimulates nerves that give feedback to the vagus nerve and help you relax – think of it as a reset button. This move can also help realign the first rib, which can often get displaced during strenuous activity.
To do it:
—Place two yoga blocks or neck pillows against a wall
—Lie down on your back on a mat
—Place a soft ball into the hollow space above your collarbone, with one of the yoga blocks or pillows above the ball
— Start by diaphragm breathing, and then make small movements of the head, neck, and shoulder. Increase the stimulus by twisting the ball into the skin before moving.
Neck Renew
Lateral and anterior neck tissues not only get tight because of forward head positioning but also become weak. This exercise helps remedy this problem by restoring the contractile properties of the muscles, making them more robust, and preparing them for other mobility work.
To do it:
—Lie down on a mat and place a yoga block behind the back of your neck
—Put the Coregeous Ball under your chin
—Take a big diaphragm breath
—On the exhale, slowly lift your neck up and press your chin into the ball, as if doing a crunch with your neck
—On the inhale, slowly lower back to the starting position
—Repeat 3 to 5 times
—In the second set of 3-5 reps, open your jaw into the ball at the up position instead of pressing with your chin
Fascia Facial
Two other potent headache sources are the TMJ and temporalis muscles. This two-part movement helps relieve stiffness in both, which is particularly helpful in preventing and remedying the kind of headaches that cause pain behind the eyes.
A) Masseter Point for Fascia Facial
—Place a yoga block, neck pillow, or 8-10 inches of books on a mat
—Lie on your left side and put a soft ball between the top of your jaw and the block/pillow/books
—Slowly roll across the ball so it goes outward
—Slowly open your mouth. This should give you a clown smile like Heath Ledger’s Joker in the Dark Knight. Then close your mouth again and repeat. Spend at least two minutes on the left side of your jaw, then repeat on the right
B) Temporalis Point for Fascia Facial
—Repeat steps one and two from part A, but this time place the ball on your left temple
—Slowly roll your head is small back and forth movements across the ball, staying in the temple area. You can also keep the ball still and just breathe. Again spend at least two minutes per side.
