Massage for Headaches & Migraines in Vancouver

Most everyday headaches are tension-type. They build slowly from muscles that have been held too tight for too long — usually the upper traps, the base of the skull, the temples and the jaw. Hours at a screen, broken sleep, a stressful week, a habit of clenching: any of these loads those muscles, and they refer the ache up and around the head in that classic tight-band pattern. Migraine is a different animal. It's neurological, not muscular. But muscle tension is one of its common triggers, and for a lot of people it's the trigger they can actually do something about.

That's where massage earns its place. The therapist works the tissue that feeds head pain, gets blood moving through it, and gives an over-revved nervous system a chance to come down. With tension headaches, that often shows up as episodes that are fewer and easier to shrug off. With migraine, it means taking one item off the trigger list. And because the work is done by an RMT, your receipts go toward extended health coverage rather than out of pocket.

Head pain rarely shows up alone. Jaw clenching and TMJ trouble tend to travel with headaches, and a forward-head posture — chin out, shoulders rounded over a desk — loads the neck in a way that drives both at once. So your therapist looks at the whole chain, not just the spot that hurts. If your headaches track closely with a sore or clicking jaw, our TMJ massage may be the smarter place to start; in practice the two treatments share a lot of the same hands-on work.

For a first headache-focused visit, a 45- or 60-minute session gives the therapist room to work the neck and shoulders properly and still spend time on the scalp and jaw — a 30-minute slot rarely reaches all of it. The therapist asks where the pain sits, when it tends to flare and whether your jaw is part of the story, then treats from the upper back up. Many people book a short course of weekly or fortnightly sessions while a pattern is settling, then space them out for maintenance once the headaches ease. Desk-driven neck tension is the pattern we hear most from clients coming over from Mount Pleasant and the Broadway offices in Fairview.

Massage helps you manage recurring tension headaches and migraine triggers. It is not a diagnosis, and it isn't the right first call for every headache. See your physician before booking if your headaches are new, suddenly far worse than usual, or shifting in pattern — and go straight to urgent care if a headache arrives with vision changes, weakness, slurred speech or confusion. Already under a doctor's care? Bring their guidance along and your therapist will work inside it. Headaches are one of several conditions we treat, and that overview walks through how RMT-led massage fits each one.