Tuesday, June 15, 2010

Cervicogenic Migraines and Myofascial Trigger Points

Migraine headaches co-exist in both fibromyalgia (FM) and chronic fatigue syndrome (CFID), and can be a great factor in decreasing our pain threshold. It is like every nerve ending we have is fresh, raw and exposed. One more insult has us ready to explode.

Though we still don’t know for sure what causes migraine, we are learning. Cervicogenic migraine is a migraine attack that is perpetuated or preceded by neck pain. http://www.jaoa.org/cgi/content/full/105/4_suppl/16S For me, and I suspect many others, I can feel the golf ball starting to form on the right side of my neck at the base of my skull, and I can feel little pea size or smaller trigger points even up my scalp. (I do have significant cervical disease, but this is different, it is myofascial, in the muscle). Before long, a whole cascade of events begins and the once latent trigger points (those that can be felt but aren’t painful until pressure is applied) in my face develop into full blown active TrPs, ones that hurt and radiate pain seemingly without warning without even touching them. I can feel them with my fingers and when I apply pressure, this helps if I can get them to release. If treatment is successful, you can feel them relealse under your finger, and sometime can feel the tell tale local twitch response. Treating all of these TrPs can help with the attack. It is when I neglect treating them before this point that I am more likely to have this migraine, and the greater the neglect, usually the more intense the headache.

“A myofascial trigger point (TrP) is a self-sustaining, irritable area in the
muscle that can be felt as a nodule in a taut band. This irritated spot causes
the muscle to gradually shorten, interfering with the motion function of the
muscle and causing weakness and pain.” (Book excerpt)


Migraines alter my life, my ability to think rationally, and breakdown my defenses. My migraines always start behind my right eye, whether they start from weather changes, an oops with my diet, stress, or my myofascial TrP disease (which scientists now believe all fibromyalgia patients may have in addition to the body-wide centrally mediated tenderness). Usually, when my migraines switch to the left, I know it is on its way out. Rarely, but when the attack begins on the left, it isn’t as severe, nor does it last as long. Most of my refractory migraines are cervicogenic in nature, and I believe that is because of the number of neglected trigger points. This peripheral pain impulse to my brain, keeps it in perpetual wind-up, not allowing it to function as it should to send out natural endorphins and chemicals to counteract the original upset.

Books have been written regarding the myofascial trigger points and migraine. I am certainly not the first to write on the subject, and likely not to be the last.

• Mine, Celeste Cooper, Integrative Therapies for Fibromyalgia, Chronic Fatigue
Syndrome and Myofascial Pain
• Devin Starlanyl & Mary Copeland, Fibromyalgia & Chronic Myofascial Pain Syndrome
• Clair Davies, The Trigger Point Therapy Workbook
• Valarie DeLaune, Trigger Point Therapy for Headaches & Migraines
• Donna Finando, Trigger Point Self-Care Manual
• Hal Blatman, Art of Body Maintenance: The Winner’s Guide to Pain Relief

Migraine perpetuators related to myofascial trigger points

Bruxism is a fancy term for grinding teeth. This condition can aggravate facial trigger points, interfere with restorative sleep, cause teeth erosion, and, among other things, contribute to migraines. If you catch yourself grinding your teeth during the day, you most likely grind at night too, and according to my dentist, bruxism in sleep is four times more forceful. Is it any wonder that myofascial trigger points develop? Assistive devices, such as a nighttime mouth guard, can inhibit some of the pain associated with the disorder. Proper alignment, may abate the development of TMJ/TMD, but the force of bruxism can be a great contributor to the development and recurrence of TrPs in the face and jaw.

Temporomandibular dysfunction (TMD/TMJ), occurs when your chewing muscles are uncoordinated. This puts apposing muscles under undue stress and increases the occurrence of myofascial TrPs. Temporomandibular dysfunction is often associated with chronic muscular headaches and craniofacial pain. Pain can also extend to the ears, neck, and shoulders. Some people experience clicking and grinding noises during movement of the jaw, this limitation could be related to untreated or undertreated myofascial trigger points and pain that occurs anywhere there is muscle, including inside the mouth.

Poor posture and injury can also aggravate the neck and surrounding/supporting muscles, and trigger points in the neck can refer pain to the head and other places. (There are other topics here on my blog that explain how trigger points develop and cause pain and dysfunction).

Treatment

First find the TrP in the taut band of muscle. It may not be easy to do initially, it takes practice. If you can find a good myofascial therapist to help you, such as a chiropractor or physical therapist that does active release therapy (ART), http://www.activerelease.com/ or a myofascial trigger point therapist, http://www.myofascialtherapy.org/ to help you, and self treatment in between, you may be able to lessen your headache frequency or intensity if they are cervicogenic.

Wishing you all a migraine free day, lamb hugs, Celeste

Helpful links for understanding migraine
http://www.achenet.org/
http://www.webmd.com/migraines-headaches/news-features
http://headaches.about.com/od/internationalorgs/International_Headache_and_Migraine_Support_and_Advocacy.htm

2 comments:

Muscle Pain said...

Trigger point pain from the gluteal muscles and sciatica can sometimes feel very similar. Because of this, one condition sometimes gets misdiagnosed as the other.
Myofascial pain in Hong Kong

Celeste Cooper said...

So very true. You might be interested in my blog A better understanding of Piriformis Syndrome.

http://fmcfstriggerpoints.blogspot.com/2011/01/better-understanding-of-piriformis.html

Celeste's Website

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