A majority of my practice of CranioSacral Therapy is geared towards those suffering with regular migraines and headaches. As a long time migraine suffer it is something that through decades I have accumulated a lot of tricks and tips for managing my own migraines and finding ways to help others manage their migraine attacks, tension headaches, or concussion related headaches. 

My migraines started when I was a kid around the age of 5 or 6. I had a pretty classic pattern of a severe migraine which usually ended up with me vomiting. That pattern continued through most of my life and finally eased off in college and a few years after until my concussion brought them back into my life with a vengeance. When I was little I would use a meditation to treat my migraines and as an adult I found a lot of help with bodywork, physical therapy, and prescription injections. This combination brought my 2-3x a week migraines to 2-3x a year and eventually got me to maintenance mode where I'm able to maintain with semi-regular bodywork and self care. 

If you are a regular migraine sufferer here are some of my go to's for dealing with a migraine. Every person is different and depending on the type these suggestion may or may not be helpful.

1.) Track your migraines and suspected triggers - this is extremely helpful for working with your Doctors. Doesn't have to be fancy I have a whole folder of photos of my face whenever I got a migraine.
2.) Temperature change - hot showers, ice caps, heat on neck cold on forehead
3.) Saltines, coca-cola, and tiger balm on your temples (a family favorite)
4.) Rehydration drink - salt and lemon in hot water, gatorade, liquid iv, rehydration salts.
5.) Pain meditation (included below) from "Mountains, Meadows, and Moonbeams a Child's Spiritual Reader" by Mary Summer Rain. I read this as a kid and have used it to treat my migraines ever since. 
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"Close your eyes and relax your body. Think real hard about the pain in your head. Imagine a brilliant, shining White Light on the pain and say to yourself: Pain, Pain, Pain. Do not tell the pain to go away, just let the pain know you are aware of it. Send all your thought energy into the center of the pain. If you have done this right you will be surprised to find the headaches is almost completely gone. Practise this and each time it will be easier. NOTE: Going into the very center of pain is like traveling into the very center or eye of a hurricane. The center is always quiet and calm."
 
What I love about this is that it is simple and anyone can do it. It also acknowledges the body by letting it know that you have received the pain message and are taking action. Pain is a message that something is going on in our body that requires change or attention/acknowledgement. That is one of the reasons identifying migraine triggers can be so important. For me when I have a migraine come on now I know that it's my body letting me know hey - you missed some sleep and need to rest. It has shifted my migraine experience from an uncontrollable thing that happens; to my body is letting me know something is going on and it needs to be addressed. 

Have headache or migraine relief tips or tricks you'd like to share? We'd love to hear from you in the comments!

​One of the main reasons I chose to attend The New Hampshire Institute of Therapeutic Arts was the Neuromuscular Technique (NMT) Training. The technique that is taught is the European version and differs from Neuromuscular Therapy though many of the goals remain the same. Stanley Lief created NMT and it was further developed by Leon Chaitow with the goal that NMT would restore the bodys structure and function by normalizing soft tissue. 
The technique uses the tip of the thumb to trace a specific series of pathways and muscle fiber directions to help improve communication in the nervous system. What is amazing is you can literally see the posture changes occur from the start of the session to the end of the session. These postural alignment changes can help treat a myriad of symptoms from scoliosis to migraines to Bell's Palsy. 
I was thrilled with the posture changes I was seeing during classtime however I was floored by what it did to help my migraines.
As a lifelong migraine sufferer it was no surprise that my concussion amped up the frequency of my migraines and brought cluster headaches that frequently sent me to ER in the years following. At the time I started receiving NMT treatments I was on a monthly injection to treat migraines and as needed prescriptions to treat breakthrough migraines. With these prescriptions in addition to regular bodywork and physical therapy I had managed to get my once daily headaches and migraines to a handful a month. Thinking that I had done everything I possible could to manage my migraines it wasn't even on my radar that NMT would have so much to offer. 
After a month of weekly NMT session in school, I spent my summer vacation from massage school in Michigan and had forgotten to refill my injections. Upon returning to New Hampshire we rolled right into moving to a new apartment and another month went by where my injections were forgotten. Another month of NMT and I realized that I had missed almost 3 months of injections largely in part because I had NO MIGRAINES as a reminder. I was floored and tentative about how well things were going. Throughout the rest of school and now into 2022 I've been able to remain off prescriptions and have experience the occasional headache but nothing like the migraines I'd become so accustom too. 

Everyone responds to bodywork differently and there are no guarantees  that NMT and postural reintegration and alignment will result in the same response.  

Please talk to your Doctor before making the decisions to go off a prescription medication and not do what I did and accidentally go off a medication because life had become so busy I'd forgotten to refill a prescription.