Neck Pain and Headache/Migraine: Natural Solutions

Are you suffering from chronic headaches? Or frequent migraines?

The cause of these headaches may lie in your neck.

A problem with the cervical spine can indeed exert pressure on the entire musculoskeletal chain and nerve networks, causing headaches and migraine attacks. When the pain starts in the neck and then spreads to the head, we talk about cervicogenic headaches or cervical migraines. Conversely, tension headaches or migraines can generate pain in the cervical spine (stiff and sensitive neck).

Thus, medications like ibuprofen or paracetamol may temporarily reduce symptoms, but they won’t address the cause, and the headache will soon return.

To avoid repeated medication intake, what natural solutions are there to treat the root problem while taking care of your neck?

Why Do Cervical Issues Lead to Headaches?

Tension headaches, migraines, or even Arnold’s neuralgia (a severe headache due to compression of the Arnold nerve located between the first two cervical vertebrae) can share a musculoskeletal problem in the cervical spine.

Heavily used in daily life, the vertebrae, muscles, ligaments, and nerves composing the neck work together to perform their support and mobility functions. But sometimes, due to our behavior, tensions, muscle pains, and reflex contractions appear. And as a result, headaches occur.

By our behavior? So, it’s somewhat our fault? Yes, even without realizing it!

Cervical pain is caused by two factors:

• Stress: tense shoulders, clenched jaws, tightened teeth… when maintained over the long term, these physiological reflexes are harmful and contribute to the loss of cervical mobility (crackling neck) and the onset of chronic pain.
  
• Poor posture, such as a hunched back during prolonged sitting at the desk, time spent in front of improperly positioned screens, leaning the head on a phone or book for hours… disrespecting the physiological cervical lordosis, your natural curvature, can lead to cervical pain.

Cervical pain indicates a disrupted balance; your body is telling you that you need to change your habits because they’re harmful!

For example, leaning too far forward significantly increases your body weight, leading to overuse of the neck muscles and excessive pressure on the cervical vertebrae. This was already demonstrated in a study conducted in 1992: when the head is in a normal position, it weighs on average 5 kilograms (11 lbs). By tilting it at 45°, its weight increases to… 22 kilograms (49 lbs)! (1)

Beyond pain relief, it is therefore imperative to correct the problem and restore the natural curvature to avoid cracking necks and headaches.

Neck Pain and Headache: What Can You Do?

1. Thermotherapy: Cold and Heat to Relieve Pain

Cold is generally recommended during a migraine attack because it has analgesic, anti-inflammatory, and vasoconstrictor properties. For this purpose, there are cooling caps that allow targeted application of coolness to the pain area. These systems also offer the possibility of immersing oneself in total darkness thanks to the light-blocking fabric and the appropriate size of the device, like a migraine mask.

Nevertheless, outside of a crisis, it can be interesting to apply a heat source to the cervical area to reduce daily accumulated tensions, in the form of reflex contractions. This protective mechanism of the body forces a joint to be immobilized when it is threatened.

Regarding tension headaches and Arnold’s neuralgia, heat will have the same comforting effect while relieving contractions.

Since each person is different, it will be necessary to test each solution to see which one helps you the most. Perhaps even the combination of both will bring the desired relief!

2. Breathing and Exercises to Relax the Neck

Among other natural solutions, breathing and exercises to relax the neck are particularly recommended for headaches and migraines caused by stress. Addressing the trigger of your pain – stress – will offer you lasting relief.

Heart coherence, consisting of performing 6 breaths per minute where we usually breathe 12 to 15 times per minute, brings many benefits, including immediately reducing cortisol, the stress hormone.

While it may not be easy to adopt this breathing rhythm for the recommended 5 minutes, especially when starting out, there are breathing guides like Zenspire that can help you in your practice. Simply let yourself be guided by light, sound, or vibration to immediately reduce your stress, with measurable effects up to 12 hours after a session!

Practiced regularly, heart coherence will spread its benefits throughout your body, particularly in the area of ​​your neck and shoulders!

Regarding exercises, it is not always easy to find the right ones to release cervical tensions or to succeed in doing them correctly without external advice. This is why a cervical traction device can help you easily and correctly perform the appropriate stretch to relax your cervical spine.

3. The All-in-One Natural Solution: Climsom Flex Cervical Traction Device

Action on symptoms: pain and reflex contractions

Bent cervical discs, maltreated nerves, tense muscles generate reflex contractions that lead to blockages and tensions. The cervical area is then much less irrigated. This results in cracking necks or even blocked necks, so tense that they become painful.

Action on causes: active postural reeducation

Cervical traction corrects the harmful effects of poor posture to provide a lasting solution to neck pain and associated headaches. By practicing daily, only 10 minutes a day, you will regain your natural cervical curvature and gain mobility. Goodbye stiff neck and headache!

The strengths of the Climsom Flex cervical cushion

• Firm foam support with an optimized C-shaped curvature
  
• A heating cover that enhances the effectiveness of the device
  
• 3 heat intensities to choose from to deeply relax the neck muscles, release tensions, and eliminate reflex contractions
  

Simple and practical to use, Climsom Flex comes with a French manual and usage videos. You are not left alone after purchasing: we guide you in correctly using this cervical traction device.

This natural solution will:

• Stretch the neck muscles
• Decompress the intervertebral discs
• Release pinched nerves.

Recommended by French Physiotherapist François Stévignon

We asked François Stévignon, a physiotherapist for over 30 years, with a degree in osteopathy and vertebrotherapy, and author of the method « En finir avec le mal de dos » (Ending Back Pain) to share his feedback after testing Climsom Flex:

“By encouraging a return to a physiological cervical lordosis, it allows decompression of the vertebrae, relieves cervical discs and the nervous system, putting an end to local and referred pain.”

He emphasizes the Climsom Flex’s strong point:

“The effectiveness of this device is increased thanks to its heating function.”

His conclusion?

“In short, I highly recommend this cervical decompression device as long as your pain persists or whenever you feel the need or desire. It represents an effective and pleasant solution to relieve pain and encourage a medium, healthy, and physiological posture, for a more comfortable and fulfilling life.”

Against cervical pain causing headaches and migraines, let’s remember the 3 complementary approaches for lasting relief:

• Climsom Flex, with its beneficial heat, for postural reeducation
  
• Zenspire, a breathing guide to enter heart coherence and fight stress
  
• Climsom Migraine cooling cap to relieve migraines with the analgesic, anti-inflammatory, and vasoconstrictor properties of cold.
  

(1) P. Griegel-Morris, 1992. Incidence of Common Postural Abnormalities in the Cervical, Shoulder, and Thoracic Regions and Their Association with Pain in Two Age Groups of Healthy Subjects.