SHARES
People commonly experience headaches. Many suffer from it some point or another in their life. It is a medical complaint that affects anyone regardless of age, race, and gender.
In fact, the World Health Organization (WHO) reports that almost half of all adults worldwide will experience a headache in any given year. So it has a significant incidence, affecting quality of life and causes a ripple socio-economic impact.
What are the various forms of headache?
Headache can be broadly classified into 2 kinds – Primary and Secondary:
Primary headache does not have an underlying cause. A good example is migraine.
Secondary headache is due to an indirect underlying cause. Examples include headaches due to a tumour, severe high blood pressure, infection or neck injury.
Can physiotherapy prevent headache?
Although various types of headache can be managed by physiotherapy on a case by case basis, two kinds of headaches generally respond well to physiotherapy. These are cervico-genic headache which originates in the neck but pain is felt in the head; and tension headache.
How does physiotherapy work in conditions that respond to it?
Depending on individual cases, interventions such as postural correction, stretches and strengthening and patient education, are helpful in treating and preventing the condition.
In tension headache, physiotherapy combining articulatory (joint) massage therapy with cervical muscle stretching and massage are effective methods.
Treatment types vary from patient to patient. Common treatments include soft tissue mobilisation, joint mobilisations, different methods of therapy, stretches and patient education. These treatments ease muscle and joint tension and increase blood flow.
How effective is physiotherapy?
The effectiveness of physiotherapy could vary between patients. Some patients require a few sessions to recover while others may need more. The effectiveness depends on factors such as age, compliance to therapy and home exercise programme plus presence of other co-existing conditions.
Acknowledgment with thanks:
This article is contributed by Ms Thilaga G, Physiotherapist from Virar’s Physiotherapy.
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by Aditi Upadhyay
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