Health Scout recently reported 6 tips to “Help Prevent Childhood Migraines” as formulated by the American Academy of Family Physicians. These tips are:
1) Eat regularly and don’t skip any meals.
2) Maintain a regular sleep schedule.
3) Get frequent and consistent exercise.
4) Recognize what triggers migraines (examples may include stress or overexertion) and try to avoid those triggers.
5) Identify any foods that may trigger a migraine. Common examples are chocolate, caffeine, cheese and processed meats.
6) Talk to your child’s pediatrician about medication if migraines can’t be controlled by other methods.
While I can agree with all these I would add another tip before number 6. Unfortunately this list suffers from the all too familiar discounting of the role muscle tension in the face, jaw and shoulders plays in triggering migraine headaches. If you have a child who is prone to headaches, watch their forehead and between their eyes. Do they squint regularly? Do they furrow their brow when worried? Do they clench their teeth? If you say yes to any of these, reminding your child to relax those tight muscles before a headache starts (or as it is starting) can avoid many, many headaches. The same advice goes for adults. Getting rid of the muscular triggers that stimulate migraine headaches will stop the majority of migraines from even getting started.
Kids do worry and kids do carry tension in the muscles of the face and neck. The good news is that kids can get rid of the tension much easier than adults. As a parent you have the opportunity to train your child to learn how to detect and then relax muscle tension in their face and jaw and shoulders. By doing this very simple training you could save them countless hours of pain and misery.
