Massage Therapy Can Relieve Headaches

Since many tension headaches and migraine headaches are accompanied by neck pain, headache sufferers find that manual therapies such as massage offer relief from headache pain and related symptoms. Because massage therapy relaxes tense muscles, relieves muscle spasms, improves blood flow and aids relaxation, it can be helpful for relieving the pain of both tension and vascular headaches.

Types of Headaches: Muscle Tension and Vascular Headaches

The most common types of headaches are muscle tension and vascular headaches. Muscle tension headaches produce dull, constant pain on both sides of the head and may also involve an aching neck or sensitive scalp. They generally start slowly and can last from hours to days.

Muscle tension headaches are sometimes called muscle contraction headaches because it is the tightening of the muscles of the head, face and neck that causes the pain. This is why tension headache sufferers often describe their pain as a “vice-like grip” at their temples or as tightening bands around the forehead or along the base of the skull.

Vascular headaches are the ones many people describe as “pounding” or “throbbing.” They occur when the blood vessels that supply the brain and the muscles in the head swell and constrict. Vascular headache pain intensifies with physical activity and typically lasts from 4 to 72 hours. It may be associated with other symptoms such as vision problems, extreme sensitivity to light, and nausea. Migraines, cluster headaches and headaches that result from high blood pressure are all examples of vascular headaches.

How Does Massage Therapy Relieve Headaches?

Massage therapy helps to relieve both types of headaches by easing muscle tension, relieving muscle spasms, releasing shortened muscles and relaxing tension held in the muscles of the head, shoulders, and neck. When muscle tension eases, there is less pressure on the nerves and blood vessels that supply them. Oxygen-rich blood circulation improves, which also relieves pain. Massage therapy not only helps the muscles of the body to relax but also effectively reduces the anxiety and mental stress that can cause or exacerbate headaches. Regular, ongoing massage therapy can also help to prevent headaches by helping to reduce overall stress and the muscle tension that can trigger headache pain and by helping to maintain emotional balance.

What Is Massage Therapy?

Massage therapy is a form of bodywork. It is “touch,” or manual, therapy in which various parts of the body are rubbed, pressed, kneaded, stroked and tapped. Massage has a demonstrated ability to help relieve physical and emotional tension and stress and to improve circulation throughout the body.

Different Types of Massage for Different Types of Headaches

Because headaches often result from or involve pain referred from problems associated with the bones and muscles in the neck, shoulder, and back, massage focusing on the cervical spine (the vertebrae in the neck behind the skull) can help to relieve headache pain. Shiatsu massage, a Japanese technique in which pressure is applied with the fingers, thumbs and palm to acupuncture points, also may help to reduce headache pain. Another therapeutic touch technique that seems to help headache sufferers is known as the Trager Approach. It uses massage to stretch muscles and joints and promote relaxation.

Some tension headaches may be relieved by a specific form of massage therapy called trigger point therapy (TrP). Trigger point therapy is the application of pressure to specific points such as along the trapezius muscles (the muscles extending from the base of the skull to mid-back located along the spine) and sternocleidomastoid muscles (muscles on either side of the neck). This pressure interrupts the nerve signals that not only cause the headache pain but also create the trigger point. This therapy aims to relieve pain and to re-educate the muscles so they assume healthy positions and postures that do not generate pain.

What Causes Headaches?

In general, it is difficult to pinpoint the precise cause of an infrequently occurring muscle tension or vascular headache, but sometimes the anatomy of the headache—how it starts, where the pain is felt, and how long it lasts—provides valuable clues about its source.

It was once believed that there were only two simple origins of headaches. Vascular headaches, such as migraines, occurred when blood vessels that supplied the brain and muscles of the head and neck dilated or were constricted. Tension headaches were thought to result from the tensing and contracting of muscles of the head, face, and neck in response to physical stress, such as injury or emotional distress.

Today, it is understood that there are complex chemical changes in the brain associated with headache pain. Tension headaches are associated with neurochemicals in the brain —varying levels of serotonin, endorphins and other chemicals that serve as neurotransmitters (substances that nerves use to send messages to one another) helping nerves to communicate.

These chemical changes observed in headache sufferers may cause, or be caused by, muscle tension. It is possible that tensed muscles in the neck and scalp may trigger a headache in someone with altered neurochemical levels or, on the other hand, the neck and scalp muscles may be tensing in response to these neurochemical changes. The rise and fall of these chemicals are thought to not only activate pain pathways to the brain but also interfere with the brain’s own capacity to suppress the pain. Massage therapy can effectively ease the muscle tension that causes headaches.

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First off, massages are dehydrating. Kneading and working muscle gets fluid pumping out of the soft tissue and into your circulatory system, where it heads toward your kidneys. That’s why many people have to pee right after a massage. (Naumann Carlstrom says some of her clients can’t get up from the table fast enough.) You have to replenish all that lost water – by drinking more.

Then there’s the issue of metabolic waste, which is produced by muscles in the course of everyday function. When your muscles are tight or you’ve got a major knot, it constricts circulation in those areas, inhibiting the body’s ability to flush out this waste. And, since tight muscles are probably what prompted you to make a massage appointment in the first place, chances are you’ve got some compromised circulation happening. Massage relaxes the tension, releasing the circulatory pathways and allowing nitrogenous metabolic waste to dump into the system. Drinking provides your kidneys with the water they need to effectively eliminate the newly liberated waste. So, once again, it comes back to pee.

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In fact, this research resonates when one considers the importance of tissue repair in sports and exercise and, they are reinforced by the knowledge that athletes typically want to avoid drugs and allow their muscles to heal and adapt naturally.

“Massage therapy aids in stimulating muscles to produce these important proteins naturally, speeding up recovery,” claims a recent study on cycling, published in Men’s Health.

The study confirms that “massage therapy reduces muscle inflammation in athletes who had just finished cycling to exhaustion. The dual action of reducing inflammation and promoting healing makes massage a significant and useful therapy for athletic recovery and optimizing performance.”

This information is all great news for educators and private colleges like the Canadian College of Massage & Hydrotherapy that specialize in training wellness practitioners of tomorrow.

“We’re dedicated to teaching students about the powers of massage therapy including its potential to facilitate the healing and restoration of muscle tissue”, says Susy Goldstein, Director, Admissions, Canadian College of Massage & Hydrotherapy.

“We teach our students why intense exercise may result in sustained, multiple and repeated tears in muscle tissue, post-exercise stiffness and pain, how it can affect performance, delay successive workouts, and of course how to treat the problems with massage.”

Goldstein adds, “Athletes as well as regular civilians want to avoid drugs and allow their muscles to heal and adapt naturally.”

Therefore, it should come as no surprise that more and more young people as well as seasoned wellness practitioners from Naturopaths to Homeopaths are open to acquiring this knowledge.

“People are hungry for any knowledge that helps them to relieve pain. And there is a growing industry of healers that want to supply this knowledge.”

The Canadian College of Massage & Hydrotherapy trains these healers and is working with organizations like the Pamper Me Network to help graduates to build successful practices, find employment and enhance their online reputation.

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What is Stress?
Stress is your body’s way of responding to a physical or emotional demand. Everyone experiences increased stress levels at one time or another. In fact, the body’s ability to react to stressful situations and deal with threats is critical to our survival. However, when one is under long term stress caused by ongoing situations such as work or family problems, financial concerns, etc. the body will be in a constant heighten state – a state which has harmful effects on many bodily systems including the immune system, cardiovascular system, endocrine system, reproductive system, etc.

Does massage therapy reduce stress?
The answer to this question is unequivocally yes – massage therapy does reduce stress levels. According to The Franklin Institute web site on the human brain and stress, “Massage releases endorphins that calm the peripheral nervous system.” The Mayo Clinic website identifies massage as a valid medical method to reduce stress and pain. It goes on to say, “Massage reduced anxiety in depressed children and anorexic women. It also reduced anxiety and withdrawal symptoms in adults trying to quit smoking.”

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Sports massage is designed to prepare the athlete for their best performance, reduce fatigue, and relieve muscle swelling and tension. During physical activity—especially strenuous—muscle tension builds up in the body’s soft tissues. Due to overextension or overuse, minor injuries and lesions occur in these tissues that can cause a great deal of pain and poor athletic performance. Sports massage helps alleviate pain and prevent such injuries that greatly affect flexibility, mobility, response time, and overall performance in athletic events.

One of the most common setbacks for athletes is delayed-onset muscle soreness, more commonly known as DOMS. This refers to muscle pain that typically develops several hours postexercise and consists of predominantly eccentric muscle actions—especially if the exercise in unfamiliar. Although DOMS is likely a symptom eccentric-exercise-induced muscle damage, it does not necessarily affect muscle damage. Recent studies have concluded that sports massage may help reduce and prevent the often-painful and debilitating effects of DOMS in athletes.

An Australian study involving 5 healthy men and women who performed a variety of new exercises, has concluded that massage played a key role in easing DOMS. “Massage was effective in alleviating DOMS by approximately 30% and reducing swelling.” Massage can reduce this though the improved blood and lymphatic system circulation that assists in the removal of metabolites and other toxins.

Heavily exercised muscles may also lose their capacity to relax. This causes chronically tight muscles, and loss of flexibility. Lack of flexibility is often linked to muscle soreness, and predisposes athletes to injuries– especially muscle pulls and tears. Blood flow through tight muscles is poor (ischemia), which also causes pain. A regular routine of massage therapy is very effective in combating these effects of heavy exercised muscles.

“Muscular strain is a common sports-related injury with the potential to chronically impair performance when sound principles of injury recognition, immediate treatment, rehabilitation, and prevention are ignored.” When preventive techniques such as sports massage are applied, according to Glen A Halvorson, MD, severe muscular strain may be avoided.

Sports massage should be applied before and after athletic events, with many “maintenance” sessions in-between meets or competitions. Pre-event sports massage is focuses on warming-up the major muscles to be used and improves tissue pliability. It also helps get the athlete in a good mental state for competition and prepares them to reach their athletic performance potential. Post-event sports massage is given following an athletic event and is mainly focused upon recovery. This type of sports massage is geared toward reducing muscle spasms and metabolic build-up that occur with vigorous exercise.

Integrated into a weekly training regimen, athletes may avoid DOMS, relax and revitalize muscles, and feel calmer and more focused before and after events.

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Now researchers have found what happens to muscles when a masseur goes to work on them.

Their experiment required having people exercise to exhaustion and undergo five incisions in their legs in order to obtain muscle tissue for analysis. Despite the hurdles, the scientists still managed to find 11 brave young male volunteers. The study was published in the Feb. 1 issue of Science Translational Medicine.

On a first visit, they biopsied one leg of each subject at rest. At a second session, they had them vigorously exercise on a stationary bicycle for more than an hour until they could go no further. Then they massaged one thigh of each subject for 10 minutes, leaving the other to recover on its own. Immediately after the massage, they biopsied the thigh muscle in each leg again. After allowing another two-and-a-half hours of rest, they did a third biopsy to track the process of muscle injury and repair.

Vigorous exercise causes tiny tears in muscle fibers, leading to an immune reaction — inflammation — as the body gets to work repairing the injured cells. So the researchers screened the tissue from the massaged and unmassaged legs to compare their repair processes, and find out what difference massage would make.

They found that massage reduced the production of compounds called cytokines, which play a critical role in inflammation. Massage also stimulated mitochondria, the tiny powerhouses inside cells that convert glucose into the energy essential for cell function and repair. “The bottom line is that there appears to be a suppression of pathways in inflammation and an increase in mitochondrial biogenesis,” helping the muscle adapt to the demands of increased exercise, said the senior author, Dr. Mark A. Tarnopolsky.

Dr. Tarnopolsky, a professor of pediatrics and medicine at McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario, said that massage works quite differently from Nsaids and other anti-inflammatory drugs, which reduce inflammation and pain but may actually retard healing. Many people, for instance, pop an aspirin or Aleve at the first sign of muscle soreness. “There’s some theoretical concern that there is a maladaptive response in the long run if you’re constantly suppressing inflammation with drugs,” he said. “With massage, you can have your cake and eat it too—massage can suppress inflammation and actually enhance cell recovery.”

“This is important research, because it is the first to show that massage can reduce pro-inflammatory cytokines which may be involved in pain,” said Tiffany Field, director of the Touch Research Institute at the University of Miami Medical School. She was not involved in the study. “We have known from many studies that pain can be reduced by massage based on self-report, but this is the first demonstration that the pain-related pro-inflammatory cytokines can be reduced.” she said.

Getting a massage from a professional masseur is obviously more expensive than taking an aspirin. But, as Dr. Field points out, massage techniques can be taught. “People within families can learn to massage each other,” she said. “If you can teach parents to massage kids, couples to massage each other. This can be cost effective.”

Dr. Tarnopolsky suggests that, in the long run, a professional massage may even be a better bargain than a pill. “If someone says “This is free and it might make you feel better, but it may slow down your recovery, do you still want it?” he asked. “Or would you rather spend the 50 bucks for a post-exercise massage that also might enhance your recovery?”

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The therapist generally focuses in on the problem area — a frozen shoulder or pulled hamstring, for instance — rather than giving you a full-body massage.

Sometimes men who are new to the spa are more comfortable getting a sports massage because it sounds more masculine. That’s fine, even if they don’t have an injury.

No matter what type of massage you choose, the therapist should check in with you about what your needs and expectations are for the massage.

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Massage therapy addresses different needs through varying techniques, one of which is called Swedish Massage, which aims to relax muscle tension and improve lymphatic and blood circulation through mild pressure applied to the muscle groups of the body. Swedish Massage is the recommended prenatal massage method during pregnancy because it addresses many common discomforts associated with the skeletal and circulatory changes brought on by hormone shifts during pregnancy.

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Turning the tables on those who love a good foot massage, ashiatsu asks the feet to return the favor. Meaning “foot” (ashi) “pressure” (atsu), ashiatsu recipients are simply calling this technique “heaven.” And although ashiatsu sessions may appear unconventional, with practitioners often holding on to specially-attached ceiling bars to maintain their balance while walking on a client’s back, this type of bodywork is being heralded as a luxurious, deep-tissue massage.

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If you are an expecting a baby you can assist with shorter, easier labor and shorten maternity hospital stays. You can ease medication dependence. You can enhance immunity by stimulating lymph flow—the body’s natural defense system. You can exercise and stretch weak, tight or atrophied muscles. You can help athletes of any level prepare for, and recover from, strenuous workouts. You can improve the condition of the body’s largest organ—the skin and increase joint flexibility.

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