Headaches - Would/have you gone to a Massage Therapist for treatment of a headache?

Question

Have you ever experienced chronic headaches or migraines or other bad headaches and gone to have a massage to treat it? Maybe for TMJ conditions?

If so - do you remember where in your head (or face or neck) you felt the headache?

Do you recall what sorts of techniques or treatments they performed?

Was it helpful? Would you go again?

What made you think to go have a massage? Did anyone refer you or was it your idea?

I'm a massage therapy student and wondering about the public's general awareness or perception of massage treatment in the arena of headaches & migraines.

Thanks!

Answer 1

I think that massage is THE best treatment for headache. I have a lot of headaches and I'm just sorry I don't have as much access to massage as I would like. I'm not sure about all your questions here but I know for myself that loosening up the neck and shoulders and getting the blood flowing there is really important. Several acupressure points above the back of the neck are also. And the acupressure points on hands and feet healp also. They seem to clear my head so much.

What is TMJ by the way?

Answer 2

Massage is widely used for help with headaches of all kinds.

There are many causes for headaches- muscle tension, food allergies, side effect of medications especially birth control pills.

Most of my clients are headache patients.

Answer 3

I'm a MT student too.  We learned about headache treatment last semester.  Not sure if your school is teaching you TMJ disorder treatment (inside the mouth), but if it doesn't make you queasy and you won't cover it in school, I highly recommend continuing education if you're thinking about specializing in headache care.  You can market yourself to local orthodontists and dentists, because TMJ disorder is one of those chronic conditions for which treatment is often elusive.

Several years ago, I had one massage when I was just starting to get a migraine aura (often triggered by TMJ for me) and I told the MT about it.  She spent lots of extra time working fascial tissue in my face, as well as around my TMJ, although she didn't work inside the mouth.  I left there and never did get the migraine that I was sure was imminent.

I never made the correlation until last semester when we discussed headache treatment.  Now, I ask my classmates for a head massage when I have a headache.