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	<title>Comments on: Is Getting Relief from Headaches as Simple as Training for a Sport?</title>
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	<link>http://www.freedomfromheadaches.com/blog/getting-relief-from-headaches-as-like-training-for-a-sport/</link>
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		<title>By: Tom Cobb</title>
		<link>http://www.freedomfromheadaches.com/blog/getting-relief-from-headaches-as-like-training-for-a-sport/comment-page-1/#comment-421</link>
		<dc:creator>Tom Cobb</dc:creator>
		<pubDate>Fri, 16 Oct 2009 19:12:24 +0000</pubDate>
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		<description>Hi Jason,

Thanks for your comment.

I actually couldn&#039;t disagree more when you say that &#039;most headaches are associated with loss of the normal cervical lordosis&#039;. 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&#039;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&#039;ai Chi as a sports example. 

That is not to say that the relaxed coordinated movements of T&#039;ai Chi or even Yoga would not be beneficial for headaches but my experience is that neither T&#039;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.</description>
		<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Hi Jason,</p>
<p>Thanks for your comment.</p>
<p>I actually couldn&#8217;t disagree more when you say that &#8216;most headaches are associated with loss of the normal cervical lordosis&#8217;. 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). </p>
<p>The point of the article is not to say that T&#8217;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&#8217;ai Chi as a sports example. </p>
<p>That is not to say that the relaxed coordinated movements of T&#8217;ai Chi or even Yoga would not be beneficial for headaches but my experience is that neither T&#8217;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.</p>
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		<title>By: jason sykes DC</title>
		<link>http://www.freedomfromheadaches.com/blog/getting-relief-from-headaches-as-like-training-for-a-sport/comment-page-1/#comment-420</link>
		<dc:creator>jason sykes DC</dc:creator>
		<pubDate>Thu, 15 Oct 2009 23:42:35 +0000</pubDate>
		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.freedomfromheadaches.com/blog/?p=89#comment-420</guid>
		<description>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.</description>
		<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>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.</p>
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