| Not all headaches are caused by tension. It could be hormones or food allergies (check your diet). It could be neurological. Seek medical advice. |
| about vascular and muscle-tension headaches (often accompanied by nausea and visual disturbances) |
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| 3rd Coast Craniosacral formerly Craniosacral BioDynamics of Evanston |
| Ginger Tolford Crisenbery Biodynamic Craniosacral Therapist NCBTMB Approved Provider 725 Washington #108 Evanston IL 60202 847-328-8433 contact by email |
| Going over the anatomy. . . Picture a tough membrane (the meninges) lining the inner layer of your skull, continuing down the inside of your spine, and attaching to your sacrum. Imagine it looking like a tadpole-shaped water balloon. This forms a container for your brain and spinal cord (central nervous system). It also contains the cerebrospinal fluid, which buoys and bathes the central nervous system, providing nutrients, carrying away waste, maintaining electrolyte balance and aiding neurochemical communication. All these parts have measurable, rhythmic motions. The fluid has a tide-like motion. Your brain actually expands and contracts! The 22(ish) bones in your skull are mobile. The joints (sutures) between many of them are designed to accommodate all that motion. Re the headaches. . . About 95% of the blood flow from your head has to come out through two holes in your skull (the jugular foraminae). They are located roughly an inch or so in from your earlobes towards each other. The jugular foraminae are in the sutures (joints) between your temporal bones and your occiput. Any compression in these joints, between the bones, or in the surrounding musculature, can decrease the blood flow through your jugular veins, causing back pressure. Sharing the jugular foraminae are two cranial nerves: the accessory nerve and the vagus nerve. The accessory nerve runs to two muscle groups which run from the base of your skull to your shoulders. They are the shruggers: the sternocleidomastoid and trapezius. The vagus nerve (“vagus” means “wanderer”) runs to your thoracic and abdominal organs, notably, in the case of migraines, your stomach. Are you getting the picture? They’re all tied together. What needs to happen? From a biomechanical perspective, the idea is to create a little elbow room for your jugular veins, vagus nerve and accessory nerves. This is done by helping the base of your skull decompress. When the muscles and connective tissues in that area soften, and the temporal and occipital bones ease off of each other a bit, it frees the blood flow and decreases the nerve compression. |
