The Cause of Chronic Tension Headaches
Here’s how your tension headaches typically become chronic:
* You work all hunched over at your job
* You continue to practice poor posture at home
* This posture tightens your neck, shoulders and upper back
* After awhile, this tightness causes muscle spasms
* These spasms restrict blood flow to the back of your head
* These spasms also irritate nerve endings in the back of your neck and head
A typical scenario is that you work every day at a job in lousy posture.
Maybe you stoop over a drill press. Maybe you hunch over a computer terminal. Maybe you’re a secretary or executive on the phone all day. Maybe you drive a truck for a living.
The common denominator is that while you do these jobs, your back’s stretched out, your shoulders are rolled in and your head’s jutted out.
And when you get home, you continue practicing this poor posture by curling up in front of the T.V., or sitting hunched over in your easy chair.
If you’re like most people, you continue this posture when you go to bed because you sleep in the fetal position.
When you’re caught in this cycle, you’ve trained your muscles to adapt to this abnormal positioning.
This positioning stretches out your back muscles, curls up your shoulder muscles, strains your neck muscles and constricts your chest.
This is what causes your tightness. It’s a sign that these muscles are under tremendous stress.
Unfortunately, it gets worse.
The continual strain on your neck, shoulder and upper back muscles causes these muscles to tear (on a microscopic level). Your body tries to prevent this tearing by forcing these muscles to knot up.
This results in muscle spasms.
But despite these spasms, some tearing does occur because of the continual strain you’re putting on them.
Over time, these tears heal. And when they do, microscopic scar tissue is left behind. These scar tissue fibers effectively lock your spasms into place.
Why is this important?
Because the tightness in your neck, shoulders and upper back and the spasms associated with this tightness restrict blood flow to the back of your head (it’s like stepping on a turned-on garden hose).
This tightness and spasming also irritate various nerve endings in the back of your neck and head.
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What You Must Do to Get Rid of Your Chronic Tension Headaches…
and Keep Them Away
There are two things you’ve got to do to get permanent relief from your chronic tension headaches:
* You must get rid of the spasms in your neck, shoulders and upper back
* You must correct your posture
The first step is to get rid of the scar tissue that’s locking your spasms in place.
You do this through a little-known soft tissue technique that breaks down this scar tissue and you have this technique done on you once a week.
(Don’t worry, you won’t have to go to an expensive massage therapist – just about anybody can learn to administer this technique.)
After a few weeks, the scar tissue is broken down, the spasms are kneaded out, and the tightness eliminated.
The second step is to correct your posture.
You do this by practicing some simple stretches for your neck, shoulders, upper back and chest. These stretches only take a few minutes a day.
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Paul Bacho
Certified Athletic Trianer