4 Massage Techniques for Headaches | Deep Massage

Now I'm going to show you a couple of techniques for how to relieve headaches in people.

Headaches can occur in a couple of different places, so we're going to show you all of those. One of the first places that they can happen is right here at the base of the skull. I'm going to go ahead and cup her head in my hands and find this ridge at the base of her skull called the occiput. Your fingers will pretty much sink in there and, you can just get a nice pull back. Of course you're going to want to check in with your client and make sure that they feel comfortable.

This is a nice way to relieve that area. You can also move forward just a little bit. You'll find that there's a couple of little bumps there in front of that ridge. You can do some circular motions on those, or apply deep pressure to that area, and that feels really great as well. So, this is for people who get headaches that are rooted from the back of the head.

Sometimes they'll wrap around to the side and/or they'll be in the front here in the temples. This is pretty common. A lot of people go and try to rub in this area here which, it feels OK, but it's not typically where the headache is located. It's located a little bit higher, and if you just follow your fingers along here they're going to fall into a little dip. Right above that is a ridge, and that's typically where the spot is. You're just going to go nice and deeply, slow movements, keep your fingers with contact on the scalp the whole time. You don't want to bounce over that area especially if there's a headache and it's tender. That will typically help quite a bit.

Another thing that's really common is headaches behind the eyes. So, if it's a sinus headache you're going to be applying pressure here. You'll want to apply pressure and then let go.

But more commonly, and especially I find in women, their headache's behind the eyes. So this is something that is a pretty tender area. You're going to go in just deep enough that you can sort of feel the edge of the eyeball on your finger. They'll be able to guide you in there so you don't go too far. When there's a headache there you're actually going to feel the inflammation. There's going to be a little knot there that kind of feels like a small pebble. It feels like she's actually got one right there in the right side. So, she probably gets headaches on her right side sometimes.

You can also just do pressure there and release, pressure there and release. You do the same thing. You go up to the very top of the arch, kind of hook your finger under just a little bit, apply pressure, and let go. Then all the way on the exterior of the eye like at the end of the eyebrow, apply pressure and let go. Then you're going to do one final one right there in the center of the forehead, and one nice swoop right around the eyebrows, and a little pull.

And that is how you work on headaches.