Headache

In 60% of the cases, tension type headache is the cause in headache complaints. Other types of headaches includes migraines, headaches caused by medication overuse and cluster headaches. In tension type headaches, the headache often comes from the throat, jaw and/or neck muscles. If these muscles are too tense or have trigger-points, they can cause radiation to your head. Your headache often feels dull and oppressive.

One of the causes of tension headaches can be trigger points. Trigger points are little tight strands in the muscles where rest products of the muscles have accumulate. An orofacial physiotherapist is specialist in examining and treating your throat, jaw and neck muscles. During the intake it often appears that headaches are part of the complaints. Many people with these headaches see this as an element of their live that they need to accept. Trigger points are often easy to solve and should not cause headaches.

During your visit to OFCN, we always search for the present complaints. In many cases, the muscles that cause these complaints will be found.

OFCN physiotherapists are specialists in treating the muscles that provide this type of complaints. In addition to the treatment, it is very important that the causes of your complaints are made clear, so that you can prevent the complaints to come back.

Possible causes of trigger points in these muscles:
• Jaw clenching or grinding
• Stress
• Long dental treatments
• Belly sleeping
• Wrong posture during (computer)work/driving/etc.
• Biting nails
• Unconscious mouth behavior

You will talk about this in more detail during the first appointment with the orofacial physiotherapist, so we can find out what is maintaining the complaints.

What can you expect?
During our intake we do an extensive interview so we get an overview of all the possible causes of the complaints. After this we will do an physical examination. In this examination we can see how the neck and jaw move and which muscles or other factors influence the headache complaints. From here we will do a treatment propose. For the treatment you can think of advice about posture or certain (unconsciously) present habits. Exercises and techniques to relax or strengthen the muscles and to optimize the movement of the neck or jaw.