There are many muscles that make up the neck and help to hold your head up from the moment you get up in the morning until you lay back down at the end of the day. These muscles can often be overworked and can also cause headaches. The suboccipital muscles are little muscles that attach from your first few vertebrae of your neck to the back of your head and are used to help stabilize and hold your head up every day.
These muscles can get severely overworked due to poor posture. This posture is often associated with a forward head carriage that can be caused by computer or desk work. When your neck and head are held forward, the suboccipitals are needed to tilt your chin up so that you can read a screen and perform your office work daily. This posture can often cause headaches. These headaches may feel like a band wrapped snugly around your head and you can feel the pain from your temples and forehead to the sides of your head, above your ears, and to the back of your head where your suboccipitals are located.
Stretching is super important to do to help relieve muscle tension and headaches; however, these little muscles are very difficult to stretch properly. Massage therapy is a great way to help relax this area. A therapist is able to target the small muscles in the back of the head to help relieve headaches and neck pain or to prevent them from occurring. Book a massage today!