Somatic Treatment For Headache Relief?

Has any body tried Somatic treatment and Somatic exercises for their headaches? Here is a web site that explains this approach:

http://www.somatics.com/headaches.htm

Interesting...not sure it's true for my case.

Migraine headaches occur as muscles at the sides of the neck get excessively tense. While no conclusive theoretical explanation exists as to why alleviating that tension ends migraine headaches, that fact has consistently been observed.

Risa

yep, my neck muscles are tense a lot. but i don't think this theory makes a bit of sense for those of us many rondanians whose migraines hit in the middle of the night.

last night i came home from work at 8 p.m., to find that my fridge door had been left partially open all day, for eleven hours. the ribeye steak i'd been salivating for had been at room temp too long, so i had to toss it. so i had some other good stuff, PLUS a lot of ice cream, to console myself.

NATURALLY, even though i had convinced myself that i could "get away with it", because it was haagen-dazs, and had only five good ingredients, i ate too much. and the night was filled with pain and triptans. there is definitely a cause-and-effect that's unmistakable with me. dumb me. dianne

dcook60 said: "yep, my neck muscles are tense a lot. but i don't think this theory makes a bit of sense for those of us many rondanians whose migraines hit in the middle of the night."

Could it be that our pillows are causing our necks and spines to be improperly aligned, thus the neck muscles get tighter and we get headaches?

Another theory, like all of us, I am looking at a possible cause and effect. We know that very few doctors are trained on muscles, according to a Sports Medicine MD that I consulted. So how could they advise us that our tight muscles could be the cause of our headaches?

So how could they advise us that our tight muscles could be the cause of our headaches?

Sometimes muscle tension is a result not a cause of M.
Which means, in this case when the M episode starts, before a headache you first get a muscle and neck pain, then after that a headache which a lot of people mistakenly think as muscle and neck tension causing the HA, which is simply not the case.

But even if, I would guess the tensed muscles would pinch the nerves in the area, and constrict the blood flow to the brain. Both of those could trigger M episode, I guess.

Risa

Of course, then there the atlas vertebrae (C-1) chiropractors that say that if it is out of line, you get headaches.

I tried the NUCCA treatment, in which the chiro tries to push the vertebrae back in place. For me, absolutely no help what so ever. The before and after X-rays showed that it was still way out of line after 12 to 15 treatments.

That is the problem with migraines and persistent headaches, each profession looks at the problem through their own narrow focus. Neuros give pills, chiros - vertebrae adjustment, PT - neuromuscular massage, and etc. I wish there was a team of professionals that would look at all facets: vascular, neurology, spinal, and muscular to see what works best for an individual.

My neuro flat told me that no matter the cause, he would try different pills to see what works. I then went outside my HMO and tried PT, which has provided some relief.

But, I must admit, I really do not have as it as bad as some, so I am lucky in that sense and that my headaches started after retirement.

Well enough of my ranting or is it whining?

You know the human body is absolutely fascinating. One little tweak here and things can go haywire and leaves us going huh? How is doing x related to y? I think this is why so many of us have problems...things are not straight forward. If you break your leg - well that's pretty much cut and dried what the treatment is. Anything related to nerves and chemical signals...it's a roll of the dice. What cause and effect are in one person may be completely opposite in another.

I do agree that for complicated diseases it would be better if we had a whole team approach. And each potential cause is ruled out by a member of the team...and that they actually work together. And they may not be members that are obvious...a physical therapist, a chiropractor, a neurologist are the ones that come to the top of my head. The ones that can see potential physical triggers. I'm also wondering about mental health...at least for dealing with stress oh and a nutritionist - as many are triggered by certain foods.

Just my thoughts here and I might be rambling. I do notice that many of us have had some sort of physical trauma to our head or neck and there is probably some sort of link...

mxgo wrote:
I tried the NUCCA treatment, in which the chiro tries to push the vertebrae back in place. For me, absolutely no help what so ever. The before and after X-rays showed that it was still way out of line after 12 to 15 treatments.

That is the problem with migraines and persistent headaches, each profession looks at the problem through their own narrow focus. Neuros give pills, chiros - vertebrae adjustment, PT - neuromuscular massage, and etc. I wish there was a team of professionals that would look at all facets: vascular, neurology, spinal, and muscular to see what works best for an individual.

i tried NUCCA, too, mxgo. with no help at all, after having about 100 x-rays during the couple of weeks i hung in there with treatment.

now i'm worried i'm gonna get bone cancer from all the x-rays. the treatment was violent, and painful. you said it well, above, re: every professional having only tunnel vision, and narrow-mindedness, in most cases of complicated and severe migraine. dianne

here's a thought about pillows. of course they are important, and when i posted above about the muscle tension theory, i neglected to add that vital fact.

www.chiaripillow.com has for sale marvelous pillows, invented by a chiari person, who was such a good guy; now passed on.

do check out these pillows. they are washable and dryable in any machine, and anna's mom (cheryl) has bought these also. they are the kind of product that it's hard not to rave about, because they are so useful.

all the various neck rolls, pillows with strange and crazy shapes sold by chiros and others, i've tried. they've all made my head worse. i couldn't live without my chiari pillow now! dianne