Tension headaches are a common type of headache that people experience which can last from 1-3 days to even a week when triggered. These pains are multifactorial and a lot of the modern day stressors can be a cause of these neck pain and headaches. The tension-type neck pain and headaches can be felt deep and refer to the eye behind the eye ball. The muscles involved in this tension-type neck pain and headaches are what are called the Suboccipital muscles at the back of the neck which originate deep in the neck and have a stabilising role of the neck from flexing too far forward and gives us a sense of awareness of where our head is in space which we call proprioception. When you develop a tension-type headache, often we will find trigger points (irritable tight sore bands of muscle) deep within these muscles which refer pain into the side of the head and to the eye. Treatment of these headaches consists of stress management and deep massage of the trigger points which help ease some of that tension and helps restore motion in the neck and improves concentration and sleep.
