How to Get Rid of a Headache quickly?

At some point in our lives, we all would have experienced a headache. A headache is one of the common symptoms experienced by people, especially office workers. A headache refers to a consistent pain in any part of the head which has a painful and throbbing sensation. The pain of headaches often range from dull to sharp. They can sometimes cause nausea, vomiting and/or changes in vision or other senses.

Headaches are Classified into Two Categories:

Primary headaches have no underlying cause

These include:

Migraines
Tension headaches
Cluster headaches

Secondary headaches have an identifiable cause such as a serious head injury.

Primary headaches are so common that around 80% of headaches are usually primary headaches.

These are often triggered by lifestyle factors and habits such as:

Sustaining poor upper body posture
Poor posture including rounded shoulders carrying your head too forward can put a strain on the neck muscles and the tight position can irritate blood vessels underneath the intrinsic muscle
Stress
Muscle tension
Lack of exercise

Pathophysiology of headaches

The brain lacks pain receptors which means it is not sensitive to pain. However, underneath the muscles that cover the head and neck, there are arteries outside the skull, large veins, spinal nerves and blood vessels which have nociceptors. Nociceptors are essentially “pain receptors” which are brain cells which can sense pain by transmitting a signal which travels along a chain of nerves via the spinal cord to the brain.

Often the muscles that cover the head, neck and shoulders get really tight from poor posture which then cause irritation or put pressure on the blood vessels and some of the surrounding nerves. Once a blood vessel or nerve is compressed by a short and tight muscle, a nociceptor sends a message up the length of the nerve fiber to the nerve cells in the brain, signalling that a part of the body hurts.

Therefore, taking pain killers will relieve headaches temporarily. However, to get a long lasting effect and to get rid of headache, you have to address the problem by targeting the short and tight intrinsic muscles causing irritation of the blood vessels.

Come and see us at the clinic for an individualised treatment plan to find a long-lasting solution to relieve you from your headaches.