I recently had the pleasure of seeing a young girl in her early teens at our Greensborough clinic, the client came in with her mum complaining of severe headaches that had been continuing for well over a week now.
Upon questioning the client told me that her headaches ranked as a 9/10 on the pain scale and that this was something completely new, that she hadn’t experienced before and all of a sudden this became extremely alarming. The client’s mother had done all the correct things prior to her daughter attending the clinic. They had been to visit their trusted doctor and went through a series of examinations which all thankfully came back clear.
The interesting thing about this young lady’s headaches was that they had come out of nowhere, there was no significant trauma and all her tests were quite normal for a person of her age. As we got further into the consultation I found myself not getting many clues as to what could be the cause of these headaches, which then lead me into asking about the client’s life outside of this current pain. I wanted to know about how she had been feeling, her hobbies and everything else that a typical teenager gets up to. At Elite we are constantly looking at things outside of the box. We, as health practitioners must remember there is more to people besides bone and muscle, there is a person with thoughts, feelings and emotions.
We finally were able to reveal that the client had been feeling more stressed than normal of late, she loved to read on a nightly basis and, as most teens do nowadays, she loved spending time on her devices.
As I got into the assessment it was quite clear to see that what the client was describing was a severe tension headache. Typically presenting as a sensation of forehead pressure, a yanking like sensation on her scalp that wouldn’t let up and a heavy headed feeling. I began by treating through the client’s jaw (a common area associated with stress), into her neck complex and finally into her shoulders.
By the end of our session it was evident that there had been some change. The client was feeling tender in the local areas that were treated, the headache was still there but dulled and she was feeling far more relaxed. My advice to the client was to try and relax that night, keep hydrated and ensure she had a nice healthy meal for dinner.
Upon the follow up call with the client’s mother I was hoping to have achieved some level of improvement in her daughter’s symptoms and to my absolute astonishment the headaches had completely vanished, the client was back to her regular self.
In this specific case the headaches were very likely caused by a number of lifestyle factors and stresses and regardless of age stress plays a prominent role in physically aches and pains. I am also happy to report that the headaches have since stayed away.
Please note that headaches are multi factorial and could be a result of a number of different pathologies or environmental factors. If you are concerned about your headaches please always consult a health care practitioner.
A case study by Edgar Campos – Elite Myotherapist
