Headaches & Migraines
Causes
The muscles most commonly associated with causing headaches are the trapezius - usually, the upper trapezius.
Self-Treatment
Upper Trapezius 1
- Get a tennis ball and hold it in the groove of a doorjamb.
- Keeping hold of the ball, bend over and press the top of the opposite trapezius (the muscle between the shoulder and the neck) into the ball.
- Relax into the ball and take slow, deep breathes.
- Try to relax into the ball more, with each consecutive breath.
- Still holdiing the ball in the doorjamb, move so that it is pressing into a spot about an inch or so closer to your neck.
- Repeat steps 3 and 4.
- Continue inward toward the neck in this manner until you’ve reached the base of the neck.
- Now change to the opposite direction, moving outward toward the shoulder, continuing to pause and breathe into each spot.
- Change to the other shoulder and repeat steps 1 through 8.
Upper Trapezius 2
- Rest your elbow and forearm on something - a countertop, table, etc.
- With your opposite hand, reach across your front to the trapezius. (the muscle between the shoulder and the neck)
- Slightly tilt your head toward the muscle.
- Pinch the meat of the muscle for a minute or so. (not the depression between the trapezius and the collar bone)
- While you’re holding the pressure, take slow, deep breathes.
- Try to relax into the pressure more, with each consecutive breath.
- Move along this line between the shoulder and neck, while being aware or your breathe and relaxation.
- Change to the other shoulder and repeat steps 1 through 7.
Upper Trapezius 3
- Lie on the floor face up.
- Put both hands behind your neck, one on top of the other.
- Hold a tennis ball in the palm of the top hand so that it’s touching the muscles next to the spine.
- Roll your head toward the ball to apply pressure.
- While you’re holding the pressure, take slow, deep breathes.
- Try to relax into the pressure more, with each consecutive breath.
- After a minute or so, roll your head slightly away from the ball and move the ball a half inch or so toward your skull. (Do not lift your head to move the ball, since that will cause more stress to the muscles you are working.
- Move along this line between the base of the neck and skull, while being aware or your breathe and relaxation.
- Change to the other side of your neck and repeat steps 1 through 8.
If these exercises don’t relieve your headache, the source of your pain could be lower on the trapezius. Please consult the section below entitled Stiff Neck/Headaches/Upper Back Pain/Mid-Back Pain.
Knee Pain
Causes
The muscle most commonly associated with causing knee pain is the quadricep.
Self-Treatment
- Get a foam roller and put it on the floor.
- Position yourself face-down, with your forearms on the floor and quadriceps on the roller.
- Begin at the top of the quadricep, where it attaches to the hip.
- Relax into the roller and take slow, deep breathes.
- When the muscle relaxes, roll your body along the roller, moving it down the muscle an inch or two.
- Pause there and relax and breathe into the roller again.
- Try to relax into the roller more, with each consecutive breath.
- Continue toward the knee in this manner until you’ve reached the the end of the quadricep.
- Now roll your body slightly so that the outside of one of your quadriceps is against the roller.
- Repeat steps 4 through 8.
- Change to the outside of the other quadricep and repeat steps 4 through 8 again.
Stiff Neck/Headaches/Upper Back Pain/Mid-Back PainCauses
*For those suffering from headaches or a stiff neck, please try the above self-treatment before beginning the following treatment.
Self-Treatment
- Get a tennis ball and put it on the floor.
- Lying face up on top of the tennis ball, position yourself so that the ball is pushing into a spot about an inch or so away from the spine at the base of your neck.
- Relax into the ball and take slow, deep breathes.
- Try to relax into the ball more, with each consecutive breath.
- Allowing the ball to roll, move your body over it so that it has now moved about a half inch or inch toward your waist still an inch or so away from your spine. (Or you can remain stationary and move the ball with your hand.)
- Breathe and relax into the pressure.
- Continue toward the waist, pausing every inch or so, breathing and relaxing on each pause.
- When you get to waist level, repeat steps 1 through 7 on the other side of the spine.
- If you are very wide-bodied, you can repeat each side on a second line still farther out from the spine.
Sciatica
Causes
The muscles most commonly associated with causing sciatic symptoms are the quadratus lumborum, the gluteus medius, the gluteus minimus, and the deep hip rotators.
Self-Treatment
- Get a tennis ball and put it on the floor.
- Lying face up on top of the tennis ball, position yourself so that the ball is pushing into the quadratus lumborum (the muscle next to the spine just at waist level).
- Relax into the ball and take slow deep breathes.
- Try to relax into the ball more, with each consecutive breath.
- Allowing the ball to roll, move your body over it until it is positioned at the top portion of the buttox. (Or you can remain stationary and move the ball with your hand.)
- Breathe and relax into the pressure.
- After a minute or so, move the tennis ball an inch or so down the buttock toward the leg.
- Continue downward, pausing every inch or so, breathing and relaxing on each pause.
- When you’ve reached the bottom of the buttock, return the ball to the highest point on the buttock where you started.
- Move the ball out an inch or so away from the spine.
- Breathe and relax into the ball.
- Continue outward, inch by inch across the buttock, breathing and relaxing, as in step 7.
- You can then return to the starting point on the buttock and move the ball in diagonal lines between the two lines that you just finished.
- *Be sure to go all the way out to the end of the muscle. (In other words, by the time you finish the outward moving lines, you should be lying on your side.)
- Change to the other buttock and repeat steps 1 through 14.
