Tension headaches are the most common type of headache and are also referred to as stress headaches. They normally come on gradually and may last anywhere from an hour or less to several days. They can appear occasionally or be chronic. If they occur 15 days or more per month they are classified as chronic.

Unlike the name implies, this type of headache is not always caused by stress, but can be the end result of other disorders causing the head and neck muscles to spasm. Due to these factors they are commonly referred to as tension-type headaches.

Tension-type headaches are marked by a mild to moderate pain of variable duration that affects both sides of the head and are typically accompanied by contraction of neck and scalp muscles. They often give sufferers the sensation of having a tight band wrapped around their head, causing much pressure. Unlike migraine headaches they do not affect vision, balance, equilibrium, or muscle strength and do not keep sufferers from performing normal daily tasks.

There are countless causes for stress headaches, but in many people they appear to be caused by muscle tightness or spasms in the back of the neck and scalp. Muscle tightness can have many causes including poor posture, emotional stress, depression, anxiety, not enough sleep, hunger, fatigue, and strenuous activity. To break it down further, emotional stress, depression, and anxiety can be the result of job stress, marital troubles, illness, money troubles, or an assortment of other complications of life.

Chiropractors believe that these headaches are not always caused by tension or stress, but can be symptoms or the end result of tension in the spinal cord or spinal nerves. Research by Dr. Alf Brieg, M.D., a Nobel Prize winning neurosurgeon, shows that as a person’s neck bends forward it lessens or reverses the normal cervical lordosis (neck curve), creating a reversed neck curvature. The reversed neck curvature causes stretching of the spinal cord and spinal nerve roots, creating tension in the spinal cord and spinal nerve roots. In other words, it’s the poor neck posture that causes the muscles to spasm in an effort to protect the neck from moving further forward and irritating the spinal cord even more. These muscle spasms are one of the body’s natural protective mechanisms, trying to prevent further irritation or damage to the spinal cord.

This increased tension or tightening in the neck muscles, spinal nerves and spinal cord, caused by an excessive forward position of the head in relation to the body, causes stretching and irritation in the spinal cord and nerve roots which can result in tension headaches, neck pain, or other health problems and conditions.

Chiropractors teach us that by reversing this poor neck posture it’s possible to relax the neck muscles, which can decrease the stretching in the spinal cord and nerve roots and help stop the pain associated with it.

In addition to chiropractic treatment there are many other forms of treatment. Over-the-counter pain killers and muscle relaxants are the treatment choice of many, but there are other well-accepted natural treatments that can actually be more effective than pain killers over the long term.

Relaxation training and stress management techniques are often successful in relieving tension-type headaches. Another method for controlling muscle spasms is Biofeedback. This is not actually a treatment, but a training program used to develop a person’s ability to control certain autonomic nervous system functions. A body normally controls functions such as blood pressure, breathing, and heart rate automatically. These functions are taken care of whether a person thinks about them or not. However, with biofeedback training it becomes possible for a person to develop a measure of control over some of these autonomic functions including muscle relaxation.

There are many good natural headache treatments available today that can even be more effective over the long term than continually popping pain pills. However, there is no one single treatment that will work for everybody. Some work better than others, but if one treatment works for one person there is no guarantee it’ll work for another. If you suffer from headaches it’s important to keep searching until a treatment method is found that will work for you.