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Headaches - Would/have you gone to a Massage Therapist for treatment of a headache?
Have you ever experienced chronic headaches or migraines or other bad headaches and gone to have a massage to treat it? Maybe for TMJ conditions?
If so - do you remember where in your head (or face or neck) you felt the headache?
Do you recall what sorts of techniques or treatments they performed?
Was it helpful? Would you go again?
What made you think to go have a massage? Did anyone refer you or was it your idea?
I'm a massage therapy student and wondering about the public's general awareness or perception of massage treatment in the arena of headaches & migraines.
Thanks!
Anne - sorry for the "lingo" :)
T.M.J. = Temporal-Mandibular Joint
Basically, where your jaw meets your skull... the axis that allows you to open and close your mouth. A lot of people have troubles with the muscles allowing this movement or with the joint parts themselves (articular disc & ligaments, etc.). It's the cause of a lot of headaches!
Answer: I'm a MT student too. We learned about headache treatment last semester. Not sure if your school is teaching you TMJ disorder treatment (inside the mouth), but if it doesn't make you queasy and you won't cover it in school, I highly recommend continuing education if you're thinking about specializing in headache care. You can market yourself to local orthodontists and dentists, because TMJ disorder is one of those chronic conditions for which treatment is often elusive.
Several years ago, I had one massage when I was just starting to get a migraine aura (often triggered by TMJ for me) and I told the MT about it. She spent lots of extra time working fascial tissue in my face, as well as around my TMJ, although she didn't work inside the mouth. I left there and never did get the migraine that I was sure was imminent.
I never made the correlation until last semester when we discussed headache treatment. Now, I ask my classmates for a head massage when I have a headache.
