Disclaimer:
Any medical/health information in this course is provided for general informational and educational purposes only and does not substitute for professional advice. Accordingly, before taking any actions based on such information, I encourage you to consult with the appropriate professionals. The use or reliance of any information contained in this course is solely at your own risk.
Headaches can arise due to many different reasons.
Some headaches arise from tight or irritated jaw muscles.
This is a phenomenon called referred pain. We think it works like this: multiple areas of the body share connections in the brain. When the body sends a message to the brain from one area, the brain confuses it a bit ("Now, where is that coming from?”) and creates a sensation somewhere else.
A severe example of this is a heart attack.
Ever heard that someone experiencing a heart attack might have arm pain as their primary symptom? What’s up with that?
The arm and the heart share some connections in the brain, so when the heart sends a “Panic!” message to the brain, the brain gets a little confused and interprets this as an arm problem.
As you could imagine, if you treat the area with the pain (the arm), but not the actual area with the problem (the heart), you’re in trouble!
This is a severe and life-threatening example of a problem resulting in referred pain. However, this can happen in less severe cases as well, like in some kinds of headaches.
Here's how this relates to jaw problems:
Many muscles of jaw and neck refer pain to other areas - usually to the head. So, even though the issue may be in the neck or jaw, you may feel head pain as a result.
For a more nerdy exploration of referred pain theory, check out this video:
So, how do you know if a pain problem is related to the area in which you feel the pain, another tissue, or something else altogether? That’s a great question, and it’s why an examination should be extremely thorough.
In our examination, we work to sort this out by testing the muscles and joints of the jaw and neck, using a variety of techniques and tests.
In this way, we can better understand why you have headaches, and treat those problems directly, or direct you to the appropriate provider who is best equipped to help you.
Hit “Contact Us” if you’re ready for an examination!
Cheers,
Dr. Rebecca Salstrand, PT, DPT