Keep in mind that an exhaustive cervical spine assessment, is essential in determining the correct treatment for you.
Some headache clients are tight in their muscles, some are weak in their muscles, some have over dominant muscles / damaging movement patterns, and therefore need better balance in their muscle activation. And some clients need a restoration of the neutral alignment of their cervical vertebrae, thereby reducing the flow of noxious afferent input to their already sensitized brainstem (trigemino cervical nucleus), which is tipping them into ‘head ache’.
A good examination can help determine where your needs are. With an accurate exercise / manual therapy program, stemming from that.
Disclaimer: the following exercises may be helpful for some people, depending on what is driving their headache!
Mountain pose
Warrior two, one, three
Syncing breath with movement - 1. cat-cow 2. table top - quadruped hip extension 3. knees to chest and lengthen
The abdominal crunch
The preacher exercise
Straight arm plank
Downward dog or modification
Puppy pose
The head retraction
The upper trapezius muscle stretch
Eagle pose
Infraspinatus stretch
Standing forward bend
Cobra
Yoga with Adrien upper back and neck flexion poses- see her episode ‘Yoga for Migraines’.
Many of these involve intentionally sequenced breathing, with upper back and neck mobilization, or abdominal activation. At first glance, you will notice, many of these make up the bulk of what is in a typical sun salutation series. You may want to string some together in a vinyasa sequence, or, just perform them as singular stretches!
IMPORTANT
If you have a sensitive neck, some of the weight-bearing poses above may give you a headache!
Or, your neck might be such that these poses have no effect at all on your headache frequency.
(these 2 prior examples indicate the need for a in-person, cervical spine assessment).
And finally, these poses may individually, or collectively help reduce the frequency of your headache.
Please contact me if you have any questions about any of these exercises!
As always, I’m happy to speak with you over the phone (647-838-NECK) about your particular situation, to help you with the next steps in your headache treatment journey!
Enjoy the beautiful movement!
Keith
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