1 min read

Myodetox

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Education

What are Tension-Type Headaches?


Whether it be today, this week, or this year, chances are – you’ve experienced a headache.

Did you know 50% of people experience a headache every year?
The most common form of headaches is tension-type headaches.




What Are Tension-Type Headaches?
Tension-type headaches (TTH) are headaches associated with muscle tension and stress. They can appear at any age and generally affect women more than men. The time experienced with them varies from a few hours to several days. They can occur sporadically throughout the month or chronically for many days.

People that experience TTH report feeling pressure and tension around the eyes, head, and neck. For some, it can feel like a tight band around the forehead.

Tension headaches differ from migraines. Migraines tend to be throbbing, affecting one or both sides of the head. Migraines tend to have nausea and vomiting associated with them. You can experience migraines and headaches simultaneously.


tension-type-headaches


What Triggers Tension-Type Headaches?
TTH is associated with a trigger that leads to stress and excitability to specific neurons that relay information between the body and brain.

Several external and internal factors trigger headaches:
  • Stress
  • Poor posture
  • Muscle tightness or weakness
  • Fatigue
  • Poor diet
  • Poor water intake
  • Eye strains and dry eyes
  • Jaw clenching and grinding of the teeth
  • Alcohol
  • Poor sleep

    tension headache


    How Do You Manage Tension-Type Headaches?
    Managing your mental health and addressing stressors can dramatically improve tension-type headaches.

    Self-care methods to reduce stress:
  • Physical activity
  • Breathwork
  • Dietary changes
  • Practicing mindfulness
  • Sufficient rest and sleep

    Physical methods to reduce tension-type headaches:
  • Focusing on postural awareness
  • Reducing muscle tension
  • Improving range of motion
  • Strengthening the supporting muscles of the neck and shoulder

    Manual therapy techniques to reduce muscle tension:
  • Deep tissue massage
  • Myofascial therapy
  • Muscle energy techniques

    These will help release the sternocleidomastoid, upper fiber trapezius, and neck muscles that lead to TTH. We also see mobilizations, acupuncture, dry needling, and cold therapies to help manage TTH. Remember to discuss these methods with your physician and therapist.

    Want to start managing your headaches?
    Book a session with one of our expert therapists! They will assess your movements and set you up on a FutureProof plan to increase your mobility, reduce pain and prevent injury.

    Find your nearest location

    • 2 min read

    Myodetox

    Posted on

    Education

    Hypermobility Explained:
    More Than Just Party Tricks?


    When does a party trick turn into a pain?
    Understanding hypermobility and when it’s time to seek help.


    We all have that friend who moves their joints in strange ways. Their classic party tricks include twisting their body into all sorts of shapes like hyper-extended elbows, knees, and thumbs.

    These wildly mobile individuals are often labeled double-jointed when in fact, they have hypermobility. But what does that mean? And what, if any, are the risks?



    What Is Hypermobility Syndrome?
    The main risk of being hypermobile is developing hypermobility syndrome. The syndrome manifests when you have excessive joint mobility combined with debilitating symptoms. There is no issue with having joints that move beyond “normal”. Just ask dancers, yogis, musicians, and gymnasts – many will attest to benefiting from an increased range of motion. But when problems begin to arise, then it becomes a syndrome.

    Increased “laxity” in the joints is often associated with other hypermobility disorders such as Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome, Marfan Syndrome, and Rheumatoid Arthritis (this list is not exhaustive). These disorders tend to appear due to genetics, affecting the strength of collagen in our body. When collagen becomes weak, our ligaments and joints become loose and stretch, leading to hypermobility. hypermobility-symptoms



    What Are The Risks And Symptoms?
    Though being hypermobile in itself is not bad, it becomes a problem if you present:

  • Pain or stiffness at the joint and muscle group.
  • Dislocations and subluxations at the joint.
  • Weakness at the muscle or muscle group.
  • Poor balance and movement coordination.
  • Generalized fatigue e.g. extremely tired throughout the day.
  • Dizziness and fainting.
  • Constant muscle strains and ligament sprains e.g. ankle rolling.
  • Thin and stretchy skin
  • Digestive issues.



    Who Is Most Affected?
    Children and adolescents, specifically females, tend to present with the syndrome more than adults. In fact, hypermobility tends to reduce as we age. It is believed that hormonal changes over time affect collagen strength in the body and reduce hypermobility symptoms.



    What Can You Do About It?
    You can think of hypermobility syndrome as over-indexing on the amount of space a joint can move within. The more range of motion (or “space”) you have at a joint, the more you need to strengthen and stabilize the area to reduce the risk of overuse and injury.

    Compound weight lifting and stability training can significantly improve symptoms. Speaking to a physician and physical therapist will be your main source to help create a plan for managing hypermobility.



    Worried You May Have Hypermobility Syndrome?
    Give us a call! We’ll book you a session with one of our incredible therapists. They’ll assess your movements and set you up on a FutureProof plan.

    Find your nearest clinic

    • 3 min read

    What Is Whiplash?

    Posted on

    Education

    What Is Whiplash?

    Most people only associate whiplash with car accidents, but in reality, you can get whiplash from contact sports, rollercoasters, and even whipping your hair back and forth too abruptly at a concert.

    What Is Whiplash?

    So how does a whiplash injury happen? Whiplash is caused by a quick and sudden hyper-extension (backward) and then hyper-flexion (forward) movement of the neck. This type of abrupt movement causes the soft tissues (muscles, tendons and ligaments) in your neck to be stretched past their normal limits and therefore, causing injury to those tissues – known as a Whiplash Associated Disorder (WAD).

    Whiplash can be classified into a grading system:
    WAD I: Neck pain with stiffness or tenderness only. No physical signs.
    WAD II: Neck pain and musculoskeletal signs such as a decrease in range of motion.
    WAD III: Neck pain and neurological signs. Such things could include associated sensory deficits (numbness or tingling), weakness, decreased or absent deep tendon reflexes.
    WAD IV: Neck pain and fracture or dislocation of the vertebrae of the neck.

    The most common grade of a whiplash injury is a WAD II.

    Common Whiplash Symptoms And Signs

    It can be difficult to tell which grade of WAD you may have. You might even question whether you have whiplash or something else! Dizziness, headaches, jaw pain, and vertigo are some signs that you are experiencing whiplash.

    How Long Does Whiplash Last?

    It is difficult to provide an exact duration of how long whiplash symptoms will last, as it varies greatly from person to person. Typically, people recover within 6 months, however, some may have prolonged symptoms and it may take years to fully recover. But don’t let stop you from carrying on with your daily activities like:

    Taking the perfect selfie angle
    ralph

    Afternoon meet-up with a friend
    ralph

    The length of healing time depends on a variety of factors such as, severity of the injury, how soon you initiate treatment, compliance to treatment, any prior whiplash injuries, any presentation of neurological deficits, any associated fractures or dislocations and any pre-existing health conditions that may delay full recovery.

    How Do You Treat A Whiplash Injury?

    The initial treatment option for a whiplash injury is to rest and apply ice or heat to the neck and surrounding area using the 10-10-10 protocol. Not sure what the 10-10-10 protocol is? We got you!

    10-10-10 Protocol
    ralph
    ralph

    1. Apply ice/heat to the area for 10 minutes
    2. Remove ice/heat for 10 minutes
    3. Reapply for another 10 minutes
    4. Repeat.

    Manual therapy and exercises provided by a chiropractor, physiotherapist or registered massage therapist will help to restore the proper range of motion in your joints, ease muscle spasms and decrease pain. This will enable functional restoration and help you return to your normal daily activities sooner.

    Delayed onset of treatment may lead to a poorer prognosis and hinder the total recovery time. In other words, the sooner you begin treatment, the better!

    1 min read

    Myodetox Team

    Posted on

    Education

    Forward Head Posture Is Affecting Your Brain

     

    It’s not uncommon to see a patient walk into the Myodetox office with a twelve-pound head that’s migrated three inches forward on their body because of Forward Head Posture (FHP).

    Forward Head Posture is a common problem for a lot of people, amongst other postural issues. Over time, Forward Head Posture will cause significant damage to the spine, in what is otherwise a preventable injury.

    Did you know for every inch of Forward Head Posture, the weight of the head on the spine increases by an additional ten pounds?

    ralph

     

    The rampant spread of this particular posture issue is partly due to our society’s addiction to prolonged sitting, and through excessive use of tablets and smartphones (damn you, Snapchat). By doing so, your forward posture can add up to 30 pounds of abnormal leverage on the cervical spine!

    Forward Head Posture has also been shown to affect the brain negatively. Research shows that 90% of the stimulation and nutrition to the brain is generated by the movement of the spine. Therefore, less cervical movement results in less nutrition to the brain. Only ten percent of the brain has to do with thinking, metabolism, and healing.

    Research shows that 90% of the stimulation and nutrition to the brain is generated by the movement of the spine.

    Consequently, FHP will cause the brain to rob energy from thinking, metabolism and immune function to deal with abnormal gravity/posture relationships and processing.