Issue link: https://www.massageandbodyworkdigital.com/i/70065
WORKING WITH HEADACHES, PART 3 Techniques for Migraines Hands-on work can help migraines. Multiple studies substantiate this,1 as does the anecdotal evidence we've witnessed in our private practices and in the stories we hear from our Advanced Myofascial Techniques seminar participants. Even though the causes and mechanisms of migraine and cluster headaches are only partially understood (as discussed in Part 2 of this series, Massage & Bodywork, September/ October 2010, page 108), we've found we're often able to relieve active and acute migraines and, in many cases, can reduce their frequency when chronic. In Part 1 (Massage & Bodywork, July/August 2010, page 110) of this series, we looked at how tension and other musculoskeletal headaches are different from migraines. For more common musculoskeletal headaches, our main hands-on goal is to release any myofascial tension contributing to the head pain. This is also a useful way to start when working with migraines, especially since many migraines are comingled with myofascial restrictions (and can even be triggered by a tension headache). In the case of migraines, there is an additional step we can take. Once fascial restrictions have been Palate technique. Feel through the maxilla from both inside and outside the mouth. released, our primary hands-on goal for working with vascular headaches becomes reducing cranial compression. This empirical approach originates in my personal experience as an occasional migraine sufferer. During one of my own migraines, my clear sense was that relief from the crushing pain lay not in working on the outside of my head, but by getting inside my cranium itself and opening it outward from within. I can't say if "reducing cranial compression" is solely a subjective metaphor, or if the techniques described here actually diminish cranial compression in an objectively verifiable way. However, in both my personal and clinical experience, these methods reliably and sometimes quite dramatically relieve many migraines if performed during an episode. Prevention is harder to quantify, but many clients (though not all) have reported reduced headache frequency and severity when regularly performing these techniques on themselves. PALATE TECHNIQUE If our aim when working with migraines is to decompress the cranium from the inside out, what better place to get inside the head than the palate? Not connect with your colleagues on massageprofessionals.com 109