Myofascial Release for Migraines: What to Expect

Approximately one out of every six Americans is affected by severe headaches or migraines, leaving them to struggle with recurring head pain that wreaks havoc on their lives. If you count yourself among this unfortunate group, we want you to know there are solutions — such as myofascial release — to reduce the impact migraines have on your life.

As integrative health specialists, the team here at Valiant Life Medical appreciates the many factors that can contribute to medical conditions like migraines. One such example is the presence of sensitive points in your body that can trigger migraines. Through myofascial release, our goal is to eliminate these trigger points and your head pain.

Here’s a look at how myofascial release works and what you can expect during the treatment.

Defining myofascial pain and trigger points

To better understand the role that myofascial release can play in improving your migraines, let’s take a closer look at the underlying problem. The muscles in your body are surrounded by a thin, white tissue called fascia. When sensitive, hyperirritable “knots” develop in these tissues, it can lead to both immediate and widespread pain, including head pain.

In the case of migraines, these hyperirritable areas, which are called trigger points, are usually found in the muscles in your head, neck, and shoulders.

The relationship between these trigger points and migraines is well-documented, and one report stated that, “Active myofascial trigger points are prevalent in migraine patients. Manual palpation can trigger migraine attacks.”

Eliminating trigger points through myofascial release

Our goal through myofascial release is to eliminate the trigger points that may be contributing to your migraines. To do this, we first spend some time identifying potential trigger points in your body. When we have a better picture of where your sensitive trigger points are located, we use gentle massage and stretching techniques to release the hold these areas have on your muscles.

We want to emphasize that myofascial release is a gentle approach to relieving the pressure in these areas, so it may take up to an hour for us to complete the therapy as we pass over the same spot several times. As we progressively work toward relaxing your trigger points, we can feel the easing of tension as we go, so we know when the trigger point has been deactivated or quieted.

After your myofascial release treatment, you should experience immediate benefits since the knots are no longer pulling on your tissues.

Since trigger points often recur in the same area, the good news is that we know where to concentrate our efforts during follow-up treatments, should you need them.

The other good news is that you have everything to gain and nothing to lose by undergoing myofascial release, as this approach to your migraines is perfectly safe and works with your body to help you find relief.

If you’d like to learn more about how myofascial release can help with migraines, contact our office in Fort Worth, Texas, to schedule a consultation.