Why You Keep Getting Headaches — and Why Your Neck May Be to Blame

You take another painkiller, the headache eases for a few hours, and then it’s back the next day. Sound familiar? If headaches keep returning regularly, it’s worth asking yourself: are you actually treating the right cause? In many cases, the answer isn’t in your head at all — it’s lower down, in the tight muscles of your neck and upper back.

How Neck Muscles Cause Headaches

The muscles of the neck and upper back attach to the base of the skull. When they’re chronically tense — due to stress, hours at a computer, or poor posture — they put pressure on sensitive structures in that area. Pain signals travel along nerves and are felt as a headache: in the back of the head, the temples, and even behind the eyes. The patient experiences it as a headache, but the real source of the problem is in the neck.

How to Tell If Your Headache Is Coming From Your Neck

There are several tell-tale signs that point to a neck-related headache. The pain appears or worsens after long periods of sitting, driving, or working at a screen. It’s accompanied by stiffness or reduced neck mobility. Pressing the muscles at the back of the neck causes clear tenderness. The pain often starts at the back of the head or neck and spreads forward. Painkillers help, but the effect is short-lived and the headache comes back.

Why So Many People Don’t Know the Real Cause of Their Headaches

Most patients with headaches go first to a neurologist or GP. If tests don’t reveal anything serious, they’re given painkillers or migraine medication and sent home. No one examines the cervical spine, the muscles, or movement patterns. Yet neck dysfunction as a cause of headache is very well documented medically and has its own name: cervicogenic headache.

What a Physiotherapist Does for Headaches Caused by Neck Tension

The first step is a thorough functional assessment — looking at neck mobility, muscle tension, posture, and movement patterns. From there, the therapist selects the right approach: manual techniques to release tight muscles and mobilise the cervical joints, trigger point work in the neck and suboccipital muscles, and exercises to strengthen the deep neck stabilisers, which take the load off the overworked superficial muscles. Education is also a key part of treatment — how to sit, how to position your screen, how to breathe and manage stress so the tension doesn’t keep building back up.

How Long Does It Take to See Improvement

Most patients notice a reduction in the frequency and intensity of their headaches within just a few sessions. Full results depend on how long the problem has been present — the longer the tension has built up, the more time the tissues need to restore normal function. The important thing is that improvement comes from removing the cause, not masking the symptom.

When a Headache Needs Urgent Medical Attention

Before starting physiotherapy, it’s important to rule out more serious causes of headache. Seek immediate medical attention if the headache is sudden and very severe, is accompanied by fever, neck stiffness, changes in vision or speech, appeared after a head injury, or has been gradually worsening over several weeks.

Summary

If your headaches keep coming back and painkillers only offer short-term relief, neck muscle tension may be the cause. Physiotherapy gets to the root of the problem and addresses it directly. Book an appointment at our clinic in Warsaw — we’ll find out whether your headaches are coming from your neck and put together a treatment plan matched to your situation.