Headache Pain in the Back of My Head
Pain at the back of the head (that’s nothing serious) can just mean some muscular tightness from the sub occipital muscles (the muscles connecting between the base of your skull to the start of your neck. Assuming you are a healthy individual and there are no red flags presenting themselves, usually pain at the back of the head is muscular in nature and is for these 3 common reasons:
-the muscles at the back of the head that surround the occipital nerve that is responsible for headaches can be chronically tight and you could be feeling the pain. When these muscles get tight due to a strain at the gym or playing sports, they can cause pain at the back of the head that will feel like a tension headache.
-pain at the back of head can also be a ‘referral pain’ from your mid-back. Referred pain is when the pain you feel in one part of your body is actually caused by pain or injury in another part of your body .The mid-back and the area between the shoulder blades is usually so stiff and sore already from sitting slouched over a laptop or phone that it will cause pain to be referred to the back of the head. If this is the case, the treatment will need to be focused on the origin of the pain – the upper back spine. The longer the pain at the back of the head continues it can progress to spreading into pain behind the eyes. Over time this can lead to constant tension headaches and migraine pain.
An assessment with a mechanical therapist or a therapist trained in the Mckenzie Method will be able to help you determine where the pain at the back of your head – the muscles or the spine – and get you on the right track for treatment.
Some self-assessment questions you can ask yourself to better understand the pain at the back of your head:
-Does it worsen the more you sit?
-Does turning your head to one direction or both bother the pain?
-Is your pain worse after you do vigorous activity?
-Does it feel good or uncomfortable when you try to massage the area that’s in pain (ie. the muscles at the base of the head.
-Does icing the area relieve the pain for a while or doesn’t really help