Movement Lab Journal

First aid for a headache: what’s actually going on, and what you can try

The honest version, not the “10 headache cures” version

You know the feeling. It starts somewhere behind your eyes, or clamps down at the base of your skull, or sits like a band across your forehead. You reach for the same three things everyone reaches for: water, painkillers, a dark room. Sometimes that’s enough. Sometimes it isn’t, and you’re left wondering whether you should just push through or whether something’s actually wrong.

Here’s the thing most headache advice skips: not all headaches are the same, and which kind you’ve got changes what actually helps. A headache that comes from your neck responds well to the kind of work below. A headache that doesn’t come from your neck won’t budge no matter how much you massage it, because you’re working the wrong thing.

That’s not wrong, exactly, to reach for the massage first. It’s just incomplete without knowing which headache you’re dealing with.

The two headaches worth telling apart

The neck-related kind (tension-type and what’s called “cervicogenic” headache). Your neck and the nerve that carries pain signals from your head sit very close together where they connect to your brain. So when the muscles at the base of your skull, your neck, and your shoulders are overworked, tight, or not moving well, that shows up as head pain. Deskwork, driving, a heavy training week, sleeping awkwardly, clenching your jaw. These tend to build gradually, often sit on one side or radiate from the back of your head forward, and often ease with movement, heat, or the kind of release work below.

The kind that isn’t about your neck. Migraine is a different type of condition entirely, driven by different mechanisms in the brain, and it commonly comes WITH neck pain and stiffness even when the neck isn’t the source. This is the trap: a stiff neck during a headache doesn’t automatically mean the neck is the cause. If your headaches come with strong light or sound sensitivity, nausea, visual disturbances, or a throbbing quality, that’s worth a proper conversation with your GP about migraine management, not just more neck work.

You don’t have to diagnose yourself perfectly. But if what’s below doesn’t touch it at all, that’s useful information, not a failure.

What’s often involved when it IS the neck-related kind

Two targets here, not one lever: how your nervous system is controlling that area, and how much capacity those muscles actually have when you ask them to hold your head up all day. Working on one without the other is often why a fix doesn’t hold.

The muscles commonly tight or overworked in this kind of headache:

• The base of your skull, where your neck muscles attach to your head. This is one of the most common spots.
• The back and side of your neck, especially if you spend a lot of time looking down at a screen.
• The top of your shoulders, which pick up tension when your neck’s had enough.
• Your jaw, especially if you clench when you’re stressed, concentrating, or asleep. Worth noticing even if it feels unrelated.

If you surf, this is the same territory that gets loaded up after a heavy paddle session or a day of looking up at the swell. If you’re at a desk all week, it’s the same pattern from a different cause.

What you can try for relief

This is the same technique I use on myself daily, applied to this area. The cue that matters most is the one people usually get wrong.

1. Find the tight spot along the whole muscle, not where you assume it is. Work slowly along your upper neck and the base of your skull. The most tender point often isn’t where you’d guess.

2. Park on it, don’t grind. Once you find it, hold gentle, steady pressure, or use small slow circles. You’re not trying to force anything.

3. Stay right on the edge of discomfort, never deep into pain. This is the whole game. Push too hard and your body braces, and nothing settles. Sit at the edge where you can still breathe easily and the muscle can actually calm down.

4. Follow it as it eases. After 10 to 20 seconds it usually softens a little. Follow it to the new edge and repeat.

5. Use your hands or a small firm ball, not a spiky one. For the base of your skull, lie on your back with a small firm ball tucked just under the bony ridge where your neck meets your head, and let gravity do the work while you breathe. For your neck and shoulders, your fingers work fine, or a gentle assisted stretch. For your jaw, gentle fingertip pressure and awareness of clenching, nothing aggressive.

One honest note on how this works. This isn’t “releasing” anything in a structural sense. It’s your nervous system letting an overworked muscle calm down, and the effect is real but temporary. That’s exactly why doing it for a minute or two, regularly, beats one long session when you’re already in pain.

🔴 When this isn’t something to self-treat

Most headaches are ordinary and settle with rest, hydration, and the kind of release work above. A small number aren’t ordinary, and this list exists so you know the difference. See a doctor, or go to emergency care, if:

• The headache hits suddenly and severely, like a thunderclap, going from nothing to the worst headache of your life within seconds.
• It’s a new pattern of headache and you’re over 50.
• It comes with fever, a stiff neck, a rash, or feeling generally unwell.
• You notice any new weakness, numbness, slurred speech, vision changes, confusion, or trouble with balance.
• It’s triggered by coughing, straining, or bearing down.
• It followed a head injury.
• You have a history of cancer or a weakened immune system.
• It changes noticeably depending on your position: clearly worse lying flat, or clearly worse standing up.
• It’s getting worse instead of better, or it’s clearly different from headaches you’ve had before.

None of that is meant to alarm you. It’s meant to be the honest line between “try the self-massage” and “get this looked at properly, today.”

The short version

• Not every headache is the same, and knowing which kind you’ve got changes what actually helps.
• If it’s the neck-related kind, the muscles commonly involved are the base of your skull, your neck, your shoulders, and often your jaw.
• Stay on the edge of discomfort, never deep into pain. That’s the cue most people get wrong.
• If it’s linked to strong nausea, light/sound sensitivity, or visual changes, that’s a different conversation, with your GP.
• If you notice any of the red-flag signs above, that’s not a self-treat situation. Get it checked.

Where this leaves you

If the release work above settles it, that’s a genuinely good sign it’s mechanical, coming from your neck and shoulders rather than something else. Do it regularly, not just when it’s already bad.

If it keeps coming back no matter what you try, or it never really touches it, that’s worth a proper look. Not because self-massage failed you. Because you can feel where it hurts, but you can’t always work out from the outside why that area keeps getting overloaded in the first place. That’s what an actual assessment is for; it finds the “why,” and builds a plan from there.

No pressure, no packages. My job is to help you need this guide less over time, not to keep you coming back to it.

Keegan · Keegans Movement Lab · Live Better, Longer.

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