What is Tension Headache?How can I treat it?

Do you commonly wake up with a headache?

Do you get a headache after sitting in front of the computer for too long?

Does your headache start from the back of your neck and radiate to the front of your head?

You’ve got a tension headache or what is commonly known as “cervicogenic headache” in the medical world.

Don’t worry there is nothing wrong with your brain!

Tension headache signs and symptoms:

• Dull, aching head pain
• Sensation of tightness or pressure across your forehead or on the sides and back of your head
• Tenderness on your scalp, neck and shoulder muscles

Tension headache can be the cause of:

• Poor Posture
• alcohol
• eye strain
• dry eyes
• fatigue
• smoking
• a cold or flu
• a sinus infection
• caffeine
• emotional stress
• decreased water intake
• lack of sleep
• skipping meals

Watch our YouTube Video to learn more.

To learn 5 simple methods that you can do at home to relieve your headache.

To fix your cervicogenic headache you must first stretch the tight component which is what we are showing you today. Once you have stretched these tight structures you will then need to move on to strengthening your postural muscles.

Here at Capital Physiotherapy, our physiotherapists are the experts in helping you to fix your posture and all the discomfort that comes with it!

We can help you break this habit and lead a healthier and pain free lifestyle. 

Our physiotherapist will be able to give you individualised advice/ treatment plan that is tailored for your particular needs.

At Capital Physiotherapy, your initial appointment is 40-60minutes long. This allows our physios to be thorough in their assessment, as well as giving them enough time to give you treatment on the same consultation! 

If you have physiotherapy concerns, you may visit one of our clinics nearest to you or do online booking using this link. You can also choose to have  Telehealth Consultation for your safety and convenience during this pandemic. 

Did you know about 25%-50% of new mums suffer from wrist pain call the “mommy thumb”known as De quervain tenosynovitis in the medical world. It is a very common problem with new mummies and you are definitely not alone 🙂 

Statistically on average a new mum will lift their baby 25-30x a day! With a wrist pain, it’ll be very debilitating for these mums to carry, feed, change their newborn. 

Watch our YouTube Video

In this video we educate new mums on how manage their pain via 

1. Watching their posture 
2. Icing the wrist 
3. Bracing the wrist 
4. Putting anti inflammatory drugs on the wrist 5. Massaging the thumb muscles 

These are the 5 ways you can start implementing to help improve your wrist pain symptom. I recommend doing it until you feel minimal to no pain and if you want to learn more about this problem and how to rehab it further you will need to do the following: 

1) go on to our private Facebook page “Ask Mel The Physio” and you will have access to not only the free PDF for this problem but every free educational booklet that we will be having from now onwards 🙂 

If you still have issues with your pain or if you wished to continue your rehab for full rehabilitation of this issues I strongly encouraged you to book a Telehealth consultation session with us under the website link that we provide so that myself or any of our fully qualified physiotherapist can give you a more individualised advice that are tailored for your particular needs. At Capital Physiotherapy, your initial appointment is 40-60minutes long. This allows our physios to be thorough in their assessment, as well as giving them enough time to give you treatment on the same consultation! You may contact at 0401 865 333 or have an online booking with us.

Given the current pandemic, many people have replaced their regular exercises to only walking or running at the moment as most gyms are close and all gym equipment are out of stock in most stores.

Walking is a form of exercise. walking improves cardiac risk factors such as cholesterol, blood pressure, diabetes, obesity, vascular stiffness and inflammation, and mental stress.

However, those who thought 10,000 steps a day or a brisk daily trudge from a further bus stop meant they were doing enough to stay fit and healthy have got it wrong. 

Aerobic exercise such as walking and gardening is good for cardiovascular health but these exercises alone are not enough for many young adults. Muscles and bones strengthening and balancing exercises also play a big part to keep fit and healthy as an individual. 

Muscles tend to be at their peak in our 30s and the muscle tone will slowly decrease by the time we reach 40s unless we actively work on it.

Walking is not a strength-based exercise nor does walking leads to significant gains in joint flexibility, but walking regularly does have positive effects on your joints.

As the pandemic prolongs, we are starting to see a trend of general deconditioned individuals coming into our clinic due to lack of regular routine exercises and reduction in physical activities compared to what they used to do pre pandemic period.

These signs are not detrimental but should never be taken lightly. General deconditioning occurs when a lack of physical activity causes rapid deterioration of the muscles, bones, and even sometimes the mind. 

General deconditioning can be reversed with exercise, most deconditioned clients will need to work with a physiotherapist to ensure safe restoration muscle tone and bodily functions as well as preventing potential injuries during these reconditioning periods.

Most common symptoms of general deconditioning include:

• Muscles weakness
• Feeling breathless after mild exercises
• Digestive difficulties
• Pulmonary conditions
• Depression and low physical level reduce concentration

Here at Capital Physiotherapy, we will help individual get back to their fitness level and by giving each individual a tailor re conditioning program depending on what we assess and educate each client with specific advice on frequency for exercising, type of exercise and what to look out for to prevent deconditioning/ injuries to occur in such a time that we are living in, even if we can’t go to our regular exercise outlet, we can still have ways to keep us fit and healthy.

If you feel that you might be suffering from deconditioning symptoms, I would suggest seeing one of our experienced physiotherapists, where we can assess the severity of your deconditioning issues and more importantly, come up with a treatment plan. It is important that you get this looked at and treated soon, prolonged deconditioning can result in poorer treatment outcome as well as chronic pain and inability to do your normal activities.

At Capital Physiotherapy, your initial appointment is 1 hour long. This allows our physios to be thorough in their assessment, as well as giving them enough time to give you treatment on the same consultation! 

For any physiotherapy related concerns, visit us at any of our clinic near you or drop an email at info@capitalphysiotherapy.com.au. We also provide Telehealth Consultation for your safety and convenience during this pandemic.

Given the current pandemic, many people have replaced their regular exercises to only walking or running at the moment as most gyms are close and all gym equipment are out of stock in most stores.

Walking is a form of exercise. walking improves cardiac risk factors such as cholesterol, blood pressure, diabetes, obesity, vascular stiffness and inflammation, and mental stress.

However, walking alone is not enough to keep us fit and healthy.

How Quickly Will We Lose It?

The general rule is “use it or lose it,” but how quickly you’ll lose it?

Muscles Loss

Inactivity for most people (non-athletes) will cause reduce in muscles strength at a rate of roughly 1-3% per day with noticeable strength loss after 2.5-3 weeks.

If individual is keeping some kind of light movement/exercise, you can slow the rate of muscles lost to about 4-5 weeks without noticeable changes. However, if you are sick and were immobilized, muscles strength can decrease up to 50% in just 3 weeks

For athletes taking a break, general strength doesn’t change much during a two-week hiatus. But the muscles used for skills that are very specialized for certain sports, such as slow-twitch muscle fibers for endurance athletes, will decline at a faster rate.

Cardiovascular decline

Strength of our hearts and lungs decline more quickly that muscles strength. When deconditioning occurs, our heart will gradually lose the ability to handle extra blood pump by up to 5% in 24hours.

Resting heart rate will also increase by 4-15 beats within 3-4 weeks of deconditioning before it plateaus. Studies shown that deconditioning show that oxygen intake capacity that was gained after exercising regularly for 2 months will be lose after just one month on inactivity.

Some light at the end of the tunnel

The effects of deconditioning on your muscles, cardiovascular system and weight can all be restored with exercise however it would require months of retraining.

Here at Capital Physiotherapy, we will help individual get back to their fitness level and by giving each individual a tailor re conditioning program depending on what we assess and educate each client with specific advice on frequency for exercising, rest period for optimal performance, type of exercises and what to look out for to prevent deconditioning/ injuries to occur in such a time that we are living in, even if we can’t go to our regular exercise outlet, we can still have ways to keep us fit and healthy.

If you feel that you might be suffering from deconditioning symptoms, I would suggest seeing one of our experienced physiotherapists, where we can assess the severity of your deconditioning issues and more importantly, come up with a treatment plan. It is important that you get this looked at and treated soon, prolong deconditioning can result in poorer treatment outcome as well as chronic pain and inability to do your normal activities.

At Capital Physiotherapy, your initial appointment is 1 hour long. This allows our physios to be thorough in their assessment, as well as giving them enough time to give you treatment on the same consultation!

If you have questions regarding any physiotherapy related concerns, we have Telehealth Consultation or drop us an email at info@capitalphysiotherapy.com.au.

What they don’t tell you about working from home…safely

Working from home has many benefits. It gives you the flexibility to finish work tasks while also allowing you to do what you need at home: looking after kids, cleaning the house, errands and that home project you’ve put off.

I’m in pain!

But working from home also bring with it some difficulties. For one, not many people are equipped to have a good work set up at home. Most of the people that have come in for treatment, have reported of working from a laptop, sitting slouched on a couch. Some are sitting on a bar stool, working on the kitchen bench!

These aren’t the best position to work for long hours, because they put a lot of strain on your shoulder and neck. The tension builds up the longer you work in this position and can cause pain as well as headaches!
It is why a good work ergonomic is important! This will help to prevent you from suffering during this social distancing period.

So what can you do to help yourself?

Here are some quick tips:

1) Work with a desktop and a proper screen.

Laptops are convenient, but their setup is too low for long term use. Most of the time, you will realise that your head and neck is protruding forward. This is very bad for your body! If you don’t have a desktop or an extra screen, then you can prop the laptop up with some yellow pages book, then using another keyboard and mouse.

You can also get a proper laptop stand if you’d prefer.

2) Work on a desk, not on the couch or the bed.

Yes it is comfortable to lie back on the couch or roll around on the bed. But these are not the best place to do your work. Sitting on a proper desk with a proper chair will make your body thank you! It allows you to adjust your sitting position so that you put a lot less stress on your neck and shoulder, reducing the chance of you having pain down the track.

3) Doing stretches every now and then.

We’ve discussed this before in another blog, so head over to this link.

So you can see what we’re trying to do here. All of the above tips are to reduce the stress you put on your neck and shoulder. Capital Physiotherapy is still open, so feel free to come in for a consultation. We can provide you with a proper assessment and advice that will suit you. If you prefer, we also provide Telehealth consultation and we can also provide on the spot recommendations on what you can do to make sure your work station is the best it can be.