The Types of Headaches We Treat at Boise Physical Therapy 180
Our clinical team specializes in managing and relieving the three most common types of headaches:
- Cervicogenic Headaches: These are secondary headaches, meaning they stem directly from problems in the cervical spine (neck) or jaw. Injury, poor posture, daily stress, and bruxism (teeth grinding) can irritate the facet joints, intervertebral discs, and deep muscles of your neck, sending pain signals upward.
- Tension-Type Headaches: Often triggered by stress, fatigue, and prolonged sitting, these headaches feel like a tight band around the head. They respond beautifully to manual therapy that relaxes overactive muscles.
- Migraines: While the underlying causes of migraines are complex, a comprehensive physical therapy plan involving specialized manual therapy and tailored exercise can drastically reduce their frequency, duration, and intensity.
Mapping Your Pain Referral Patterns
Because your neck muscles and joints share nerve pathways with your head and face, tension in a specific muscle will send a predictable pattern of pain upward. Our therapists are trained to trace these exact pathways to identify the culprit.
For example, tightness in the upper trapezius muscle routinely presents with a distinct “ram’s horn” referral pattern—where pain originates at the base of the skull, travels up over the back of the head, and arches around the ear toward your temple or forehead.