Self Massage for Vertigo and Migraines ·

Table of Contents

Muscle tension can cause an insane amount of symptoms in the head and neck region:
Blurred Vision
Dizziness
Migraine Headaches
Nausea
Visual Disturbances

Many triggers for headaches actually cause latent trigger points to “activate”. Latent trigger points are contracted muscle fibers that are not yet causing any pain or symptoms. Simply coughing, consuming nicotine, alcohol, caffeine, certain medications, nutritional defenciencies, or sugar can do the trick. If the trick was to send you do the dark headache abyss.

These trigger points can also be set off by emotional distress, allergic reactions, chemical withdrawal, and physical trauma.

Muscle tension in the jaw, upper back, and neck muscles are the most common causes for the symptoms above. And they are not usually located where you feel the pain and dysfunction.

Upper back and shoulder tension causes neck pain, then your neck muscles cause headaches.

Obviously, pain, headaches, and vertigo can have other causes besides trigger points. But up to 80-90% of our physical pain is cause by myofascial dysfunction. So it’s worth starting here first.

Here is a cute little table to help you figure out what muscle is causing your symptoms:

Muscle Group	Symptoms
Scalenes	numbness, tingling, weird sensations in chest, shoulder, arm, neck, and hand
Sternocleidomastoid	vertigo, blurred vision, dizziness, migraines, nausea, visual disturbances
Splenius cervicis	blurred vision, migraines, visual disturbances
Suboccipitals	blurred vision, migraines, visual disturbances
Trapezius	migraines
Temporalis	migraines

Self Massage
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Doing self massage is great because you can do it daily and for free. You can also use tools like Therapy Balls, lacrosse balls, or a theracane to save your hands.

Find a sore or tense muscle, then do 10 slow strokes per spot. Work bad areas multiple times per day. Aim for a 5/10 on the “Good pain” scale. If you suddenly find yourself holding your breath, then you are pressing too hard. Breath holding signals the brain that you are in trouble and can make muscle tense up even more.

Avoid anything that feels weird or gives you “bad pain”.

Scalenes
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Tight scalenes can pull the first rib up into the collar bone and squeeze blood vessels and nerves. Restricted bloodflow and nerve disturbance can cause pain, burning, numbness, and tingling all the way down the arm and hands (thoracic outlet syndrome).

It’s worth starting here because scalenes can cause so many other muscles to also be tense.

Common causes for tight scalenes:
Poor breathing mechanics (breathing too much with accessory breathing muscles instead of diaphragm)
Hyperventilating
Heavy coughing or sneezing
Emotional tension
Working long hours with hands out in front of you

What you should do: Work on your posture, such as keeping your head center, not slouching, etc. And practice diaphragm breathing with deadbugs. Meditation, therapy, or journaling may help with emotional distress.

Massage the muscles in the front and side of the neck, being careful to avoid pulses and anything that feels weird. Do this throughout the day to relax these muscles.

Sternocleidomastoid
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Tension here can cause dizziness that can occur suddenly or last for minutes, hours, or days. And often given a diagnosis of vertigo.

Sternocleidomastoid muscles help with spatial orientation that helps your brain keep track of the position of your head. Confusing signals are sent to the brain when there is tension here.

This can also cause a referred spasm in the muscle that surrounds the eye. Leading to blurry vision.

Common causes:
Bad head posture
Other trigger points or muscle imbalance
Whiplash
Using breath accessory muscles instead of diaphragm.

Trapezius
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Headache and sore neck

Common causes:
slouched posture while seated
forward head
tight pecks
tight abs
working long hours with hands out in front of you
emotional tension that keeps your shoulders up