Thea is an Australian Physiotherapist and Clinical Pilates Instructor who brings a wealth of hands-on and rehabilitation experience to our team.

Headaches affect over 10 million people regularly in the UK, making them one of the most common health complaints.

Although they can negatively impact work, social, and family life, headaches themselves are rarely serious. The factors that contribute to headaches differ widely between individuals. While Physiotherapy is not often considered as a first line of treatment, it can offer effective, drug-free solutions for managing headaches.

Thea Crantock is a Watson Technique Certified Practitioner, specializing in the treatment of headaches. Thea has outlined The Top 5 Ways Physiotherapy Can Help with Headaches:

  1. Identifying Potential Triggers: Through thorough assessment, Physiotherapists can help identify factors contributing to headaches, such as hormonal changes, certain foods or drinks, posture, or lifestyle habits.
  2. Manual Therapy Techniques: The Watson Headache Approach allows physiotherapists to selectively target specific areas of your neck and apply gentle pressure to help relieve symptoms. This technique is very precise and adopts the “less is more” principle
  3. Strengthening Deep Neck Flexor Muscles: An assessment can determine if you would benefit from exercises to optimise neck positioning and reduce headache frequency.
  4. Improving Neck Movement: Physiotherapy can enhance neck range of motion, which may alleviate headache symptoms.
  5. Postural Education and Strengthening: Physiotherapists are able to identify areas requiring stretching, soft tissue release, or strengthening to reduce neck strain and relieve headache symptoms.

Through thorough assessment and a combination of hands-on techniques and exercise, Physiotherapists can significantly reduce the negative impact headaches may have on your life. We can also refer you in the right direction if your symptoms are not appropriate for Physiotherapy.

If you are still not sure whether physiotherapy will be able to help with your headache symptoms, give us a call to book in a free chat to with one of our Physiotherapists to see how we could support you.