Muscle weakness may contribute to tension headaches

 

Posted on May 1, 2015 by Stone Hearth News

 

  

(Reuters Health) – Strength training might help prevent tension headaches, or at least reduce their pain, according to a small Danish study. Researchers found that neck and shoulder muscles were up to 26 percent weaker in people with regular tension headaches, compared to those without. They also saw strength imbalances between sets of muscles that hold the head straight.
“In order to be able to treat tension-type headache patients non-pharmacologically . . . It is very important to work towards a further understanding of muscle-skeletal impact on tension-type headaches,” lead author Bjarne H. Madsen, a physiotherapist at the Danish Headache Center in Glostrup, said by email.

  

revious studies have found that muscle strength and weakness were associated with tension-type headaches, Madsen and his colleagues note in the journal Cephalalgia. More work is needed to determine whether the muscle weakness is a cause or effect of this most common type of headache, they write.

People with tension-type headaches may feel like they have a tight band wrapped around their head but with less pain than is felt from cluster headaches or migraines, which tend to strike one side of the head. Cluster headaches are often accompanied by sinus congestion or runny nose, while migraines cause throbbing, moderate-to-severe pain and sometimes nausea and/or vomiting and sensitivity to light and sound.

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