Self Care – Headache on the Top of Your Head
Table of Contents
- Activities to Avoid or Change
- For Temporary Relief
- Stretches and Exercises for Longer-Lasting Relief
- Yoga Corner
Here you will find ways to get relief on your own from the headache on the top of your head. Additionally, because this is a cervicogenic headache, you’ll find ways to relieve it with muscles in your neck. In this post, you can also read more about how people describe this pain and the activities that typically create it.
Activities To Avoid or Change:
Seated Posture
Avoid sustained postures with your chin jutting forward, especially while twisting it from one side, as when watching birds or leaning forward watching tennis.
Common versions of this today involve leaning forward and turning your head between two monitors or looking up at a high screen for long periods. Here’s a post to help you sit and work without pain.
For Temporary Relief:
Cervicogenic Headache Hack
This is a cervicogenic (from the neck) headache. So, you can place a small topical pain patch on the back of your neck for relief. Put it over the trigger point at the base of your skull where that green asterisk lives in the pic. Notably, One side will be tighter than the other. Place it there.
After a few minutes, you will feel the hot/cool sensation from the patch. Then, tilt and turn your head a bit. Move slowly and take it far enough to get a little stretch in your neck. Usually, there will be some clicks. By the way, those clicks are good when you’re slowly stretching your neck.
Patches from Salonpas work well. They’re available at most drugstores and on Amazon. I keep some on hand.
These self-care activities, like over-the-counter drugs, are not intended to replace appropriate medical attention. If you have concerns about these self-care activities, get help from a professional. Use these suggestions and strategies with discretion and at your own risk. See your doctor when your pain is severe, persistent, or not responding to these simple suggestions.
Stretches and Exercises for Longer-Lasting Relief:
The headache at the top of your head is activated by a trigger point in the splenius capitis muscle. Occasionally, it is activated by the sternocleidomastoid muscle. A balanced stretching routine like this one offers longer-lasting relief.
The Box
Do the whole routine at the top and bottom of your neck. Pay attention to the sensitivity of stretches #2 and #3 at the top of your neck. It’s important that you do the whole routine as this muscle is strongly balanced against the muscles in stretches #9 and #10.
Go back and redo stretches #2, #3, #4, and #5. Focus where it is sensitive and tight at the top of your neck. Also, redo stretches #9 and #10. However, ice along the back of your neck instead of along the SCM.
If You’ll Only do One Stretch
This stretch most directly targets the muscle. Turn your head away from the tight side of your neck. Gently pull away from that shoulder. You may get a twinge of that headache when you start this. That’s good. IT means that you’ve hit the spot.
Of course, ice-and-stretch makes this quicker and more effective.
Is Your Neck Extra Stiff and Painful?
Sometimes, turning your head is strongly limited by pain. This indicates that more than one of the muscles that creates a “stiff neck” is involved. Check out these posts on a stiff neck.
In this case, if the problem does not resolve with home care, consider professional help from your bodyworker. They will offer quicker relief, have longer-lasting results, and keep you focused on effective self-care.
I’d love your feedback on how this works for you and any suggestions you might have.
Email me at integrativeworks@gmail.com.
Yoga Corner
Warm up with poses that tilt and roll the neck around. Pick upright poses that gently rotate your neck after moving it front to back and side to side.
Now that you’re warmed up
Afterward, the twisting poses, like this modified triangle pose, release this muscle. Expect a slight feeling of a headache on the top of your head as you warm up. In this pose, the splenius capitis that is closer to her feet is stretched by turning her head. The other one is strongly contracted.
I’d love your feedback on how this works for you and any suggestions you might have.
Email me at integrativeworks@gmail.com.
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Tony Preston has a practice in Atlanta, Georgia, where he sees clients. He has written materials and instructed classes since the mid-90s. This includes anatomy, trigger points, cranial, and neuromuscular.
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