Trapped

Yesterday I mentioned I had a headache. Well somewhere around 4am I realized it was more than headache, and more like a horrible migraine. I woke up and took some Excedrin, only to toss and turn, hit snooze to cancel any plans of working out, and toss and turn more. It made the workday pretty unbearable, and a 2nd dose of Excedrin still did nothing for me. In the afternoon I decided maybe a massage would help, my shoulders felt super tense and hurt when I rubbed them anyway. Luckily I was able to get an appointment in right after work.

The first thing my massage therapist asked was whether I had any issues. Yup. I explained the pain I had in the left side of my head all the way down through my neck and to my left shoulder. Instantly she said, "It's your Trapps." Huh? She explained that is the exact description of the pain people feel when their Trapezius muscle is tense or knotted. Sounded about right to me.

source

She spent the next hour working that baby out. She pinched it, she pressured it, she rolled on it. She couldn't believe how bad it was, and she kept finding little balls of knots. She actually remembered me from the last time I was there a couple of months ago and reminded me how she had told me then I needed to schedule an appointment to just work on my shoulders. It was the least relaxing massage I have ever had, but anything to make this headache go away.

It was actually interesting when she would put pressure on different spots and ask where the pain referred to. One spot she pinched resulted in pain in the front of my head, and one I could feel pain down my upper back. She said it was so bad that she would honestly recommend accupuncture over more massage.

After the hour was up, she told me to get up slowly since I had been on my stomach the entire time. She wasn't kidding. Once I got up I felt SO dizzy and unable to balance. The pain in my head seemed to worsen, and on top of it, I felt nauseous from being hungry too. She warned that I may start to feel like I have flu like symptoms tonight, and to keep my shoulders warm. Ick!

About an hour after the massage and my headache is gone - and I feel great! Wow, thank you massage therapist.

I am going to work on being more aware of when I scrunch my shoulders. I am guessing I do that during spin and probably during Body Works when my arms get tired. It's amazing how our bodies work, and how little I know about it. I think I need to take intro to Biology again or something???