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How Can a Physical Therapist Help?

 

Our physical therapists will conduct a thorough examination that includes a review of your health history. The therapist will ask you questions and will perform tests to determine the most likely cause of your headaches. For example, the therapist might:

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Ask you:

  • to recall any previous injuries to your neck, head, or jaw

  • the location, nature, and behavior of your pain and other symptoms

  • to draw your areas of pain on a body diagram

  • Perform tests of muscle strength and sensation

  • Examine your posture when sitting, standing, and performing various activities

  • Measure the range of motion of your neck, shoulders, and other relevant parts of your body

  • Use manual therapy to evaluate the mobility of the joints and muscles in your neck

Our physical therapists will work with you to correct the problems that are causing your pain and will help you learn to prevent headaches through simple changes in your posture and lifestyle:

 

Improve neck mobility. Physical therapists use a specialized technique called manual therapy to increase movement and relieve pain and to stretch the muscles of the back of the neck.

 

Improve your strength. The physical therapist will teach you exercises to increase the strength of the muscles that help stabilize your upper back and neck to improve your posture and endurance and make it easier for you to sit or stand for longer periods of time without discomfort.

 

Improve your posture. Physical therapists will teach you to ways to improve your posture. Whether it is simply pushing your chest out or pulling your shoulder blades backward and together, slight modifications to everyday living can make a vast improvement in posture.

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Modify your workstation or home office. Tips may include:

  • using a headset instead of a regular phone

  • adjusting your computer screen so that it is no lower than the level of your eyes

  • finding an appropriate desk chair

  • adjusting the position of your computer mouse

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