While headaches come in many forms, tension headaches are the most common. A tension headache starts when muscles tighten in the head and neck, putting pressure on blood vessels in the scalp. Some clients may also suffer from cluster headaches, which are generally isolated to one area of the head. Tension headaches are different from migraines, which will be treated in a future article.

According to Massage and Bodywork Magazine, “Fifty million Americans have chronic headaches…. Research studies show that employers and employees spend more than $1 billion each year on medical treatment for chronic headaches — a condition that costs business an estimated $13 billion in lost productivity due to inefficient and missed work.”

Several studies have shown that massage therapy can effectively reduce the frequency and severity of tension headaches for chronic sufferers. The American Journal for Public Health published a study indicating that headache frequency was reduced within one week of massage treatment, and this reduction was maintained during the four week treatment period.

According to this article, “On the basis of these results, we conclude that pain associated with chronic tension headache can be alleviated through specific massage therapy treatments directed at cranial and cervical muscles.”

Massage Magazine also published an article on these results.

Their study was limited to only four subjects. The conclusion was that “Massage significantly reduced the number of headaches experienced by people with chronic tension headaches, and decreased the duration of the headaches.”

This research was conducted by Christopher Quinn, Clint Chandler and Albert Moraska, Ph.D., of the Boulder College of Massage Therapy in Boulder, Colorado. They studied four people who had experienced two to three headaches per week for the at least six years. The study lasted eight weeks, with the first four being devoted to establishing baseline headache measurements. During the last four weeks, participants received two 30-minute massages per week.

The massage routine for this study consisted of six phases in a 30-minute time period. Steps included: preparatory tissue warm-up (three minutes), myofascial release (five minutes), axial cervical traction (two minutes), trigger-point therapy (15 minutes), facilitated stretching (five minutes) and session closure (three to five minutes).

What does this mean for the massage therapist?

Knowing just how common chronic headaches are is good incentive to start targeting ads and marketing materials for headache relief. If you haven’t had many clients come to you with headache complaints, it means you aren’t making them aware of the full range of services you offer.

Develop a solid set of techniques for relieving tension headaches, based on the suggested 20-minute routine developed for the study. Your own specific techniques may vary, and you may also choose to add other therapies such as aromatherapy to provide further benefits.

Future articles will focus on specific techniques for tension headaches and migraines.

Other articles in this series:
Migraine Techniques for Headache Relief
Massage for Migraines