I really do think that getting relief from chronic headaches is as simple as training for a sport. Now, you may say that training for a sport is not exactly easy but you will have to acknowledge it is probably much easier than seeing doctor after doctor or taking medication after medication for years and years. And, when you train yourself for a sport you have control of all the variables, except coaching. Good coaching makes all the difference, but that is another topic.
So, what do I mean when I say that obtaining relief from chronic headaches is as simple as training for a sport? How can this be? Let me explain.
As I have mentioned elsewhere, I am a student and teacher of T’ai Chi. When you strip away the mystical jargon, T’ai Chi is basically a sport. It is a sport that combines patterned movements with meditation and it is ultimately a marital art. And training for any martial art involves seriously training your body’s muscle memory. Muscle memory allows your body to perform an action quickly and without thought. This is very important in a martial situation because thinking is much slower than physical reflexes; so much so that if a martial artist takes time to think they have lost the fight. They have to have previously trained their reflexes in patterned movements which can be relied upon to emerge and be useful in the midst of a crisis, without thought. This does not mean there is no thought at all, but thinking is not necessary to produce the movement. The unification of the mind and body in spontaneous purposeful activity is an exhilarating experience and explains much of the pleasure martial artists experience while training and performing.
So, how does this relate to chronic headaches? Well, one major cause of chronic headaches is negatively patterned muscle memory. This is muscle memory that was previously trained unconsciously during times of crisis or by bad habits over a lifetime. We learn bad muscular habits which have a negative impact on our headache patterns unconsciously. These habits may start out as comforting actions during times of stress (like clenching the teeth) or during times of mild anxiety and we don’t recognize the significant impact these habits have on our headaches. So, we inadvertently train ourselves to make our headaches worse because we don’t really understand that when we do anything that makes the muscles of the head, jaw, neck or shoulders more tense it actually makes our headaches worse in the long run.
I have obviously known this for years, since changing the patterns of muscle activity in the face, jaw, head and neck forms the basis of the online training program I teach to decrease the severity and frequency of chronic headaches. But I was reminded again of this entire dynamic this morning while practicing a new martial art I have decided to study. This martial art is called Bagua Chan and it is related to T’ai Chi in many ways so I don’t have to start from scratch. But is is substantially different in that it emphasizes walking in a circle with quick turns. One walking pattern is called Mud Walking where the stepping pattern is toe to heel rather than heel to toe which is my normal walking pattern. After walking the circle using the Mud Step for about 45 minutes I came back into the house and I found myself easily using the Mud Step to walk around the house. It was easy and it was natural. Now, this was very unusual for me. I NEVER walk using this stepping pattern so to find myself easily and naturally walking this way after just a small amount of practice was new and pleasing (I now see new patterns being trained for my muscles). And this is exactly what happens in our online training program, Headache Freedom Blueprint. Students learn how to train new patterns of muscle activity for their face, jaw, head and shoulders and these new patterns take the pressure off so muscle tension stops generating new headaches. If you think I was pleased just to see myself change my walking pattern, image how our students feel when they get relief from the painful condition of chronic headaches.
Have you had similar experiences? Does this ring a bell in anyway? Please leave a comment below
Interesting. However, most headaches are associated with loss of the normal cervical lordosis. This requires increased muscle tension as a neck with reduced curvature supports the cranium less efficiently and thus increased muscle tension is required. It is not possible to increase a cervical curve with T’ai Chi.
Hi Jason,
Thanks for your comment.
I actually couldn’t disagree more when you say that ‘most headaches are associated with loss of the normal cervical lordosis’. If you saying you think headache sufferers are actually helped by carrying more tension in their neck and shoulders I am shocked. For literally hundreds of patients I have seen major reductions in the frequency and severity of migraines, tension headaches and mixed migraine/tension headaches simply by eliminating the muscle tension in the face, jaw, neck and shoulders. (This was with measuring the muscle activity directly with surface EMG).
The point of the article is not to say that T’ai Chi will do anything for headaches per se, it was illustrating that headache sufferers can benefit by creating new patterns of muscular behavior similar to what occurs during sports training and I used T’ai Chi as a sports example.
That is not to say that the relaxed coordinated movements of T’ai Chi or even Yoga would not be beneficial for headaches but my experience is that neither T’ai Chi training nor Yoga training is directly targeted on the mechanisms which create tension in the jaw, face, head and neck. So it is best to focus on retraining the specific muscles involved in headaches, the tightness of which acts to directly cause tension headaches or serve as a trigger for migraines.