Trigger Point Therapy for Headaches and Migraines Book: Headaches, Trigger Points, & Perpetuating Factors

Companion Materials:
Headache Diary
Headache Types
Perpetuating Factors

Headaches, Trigger Points, & Perpetuating Factors

A tabular reference describing the likely role of trigger points, emotional effects, biochemical and vascular system role, and most important perpetuating factors by headache type.
Download: Adobe Acrobat format (.pdf, 36 kb)

Type of Headache*	Likely Role of Trigger Points (The more chronic, the more likely that trigger points are involved.)	Likely Role of Emotional effects (via limbic system of brain)	Likely role of Biochemicals & Vascular System (blood vessels)	Most Important Perpetuating Factors**
Migraine without aura	moderate to high	moderate to high	moderate	Allergies and other Environmental Stressors Diet (caffeine, including rebound from medications, alcohol, tobacco) Nutritional Problems Emotional Factors Hypoglycemia Sleep Problems
Migraine with aura	moderate to high	low to moderate	high
Migraine with aura, without headache	low	low	high
Tension Headache	moderate to very high	moderate to high, but not necessarily	low	Mechanical Stresses, including dental problems, postural problems, and leg-length discrepancies Spinal Mis-alignments and other problems Emotional Factors Injuries (especially whiplash) Lack of exercise
Headaches and Neck Pain from Trauma	moderate to very high	low initially, but over time chronic pain leads to emotional input	low	Mechanical Stresses Injuries (especially whiplash) Spinal Mis-alignments and other problems
Cluster Headaches	low, to moderate or high in chronic cases	low, to moderate or high in chronic cases	moderate to high	Diet Allergies and other Environmental Stressors
Headaches associated with TMJ pain	moderate to very high	moderate to very high	low	Mechanical Stresses, including dental problems Spinal Mis-alignments and other problems Emotional Factors
Secondary Headaches	low to high	depends on cause	depends on cause	depends on cause
* Remember that you may have more than one type of headache at different times, one may turn into another during an attack, or you may have more than one kind at the same time. ** Be sure to consider all the perpetuating factors listed in Part II of the book, since you may have additional factors that are causing your headaches. See *Headache Type by Symptom* for the relative roles of inputs in causing different types of headaches, plus common perpetuating factors.

Companion Materials: Perpetuating Factors

Headaches, Trigger Points, & Perpetuating Factors