Why do I get regular headaches?

Ever had that feeling of pain around the shoulders, travelling up to the base of your skull and into your temple bones? You're not alone. Tension headaches are the most common cause of headache. These days most of us sit bent over a computer screen for large periods of the day with our neck held tightly in place by our neck muscles.

The neck in particular is full of arteries, veins and nerves passing through muscles to get to the head. Excessive use of the neck muscles in a sustained way tends make the muscles of the neck tight. The result? The blood vessels and nerves are compressed, affecting the blood a nerve supply to our head giving pain either around the temples, behind the eye or located on the side or base of the skull.

So what's the solution? Well, anything that helps reduce the tension in these neck muscles will bring relief almost immediately and stretching is one of the most affective. There are plenty of examples on the internet but the regime should include shoulder shrugging, stretching the neck in all of its directions (be careful when looking upwards). Together with good sitting posture, relaxation techniques as well as gentle exercise (eg walking/swimming), you might just find your tension headache becomes a distant memory.