Why Do My Suboccipital Muscles Hurt All the Time?
December 1, 2018 4:27 PM   Subscribe

For the last year or so I've consistently had achiness "hot spots" in the tiny little muscles at the bottom of my skull (pretty sure these are the suboccipital muscles). Why do they hurt?

The muscles feel tense and achy, and if I press with my thumbs or a tennis ball it really hurts (in kind of a good way).

I have talked to my doctor, a massage therapist, and a trainer at my gym and none of them had much advice as to why the muscles at the bottom of my skull hurt all the time. They suggested using a foam roller or tennis ball, which is helpful but doesn't prevent the problem.

I am a student, so I work at lots of different locations on different days of the week, so though I suspect this is likely due to my posture or computer usage (usually 7+ hours per day). I'm not exactly sure what to do to fix it? Even when I've been on vacation for two weeks and been active walking around all day without any computering I continued to have the painful "hot spots" on the back of my head.
posted by forkisbetter to Health & Fitness (11 answers total) 7 users marked this as a favorite
 
Do you clench or grind your teeth? When you look in the mirror, any neck tilt or turn? You may be straining those muscles even outside of computer use.

Muscles that are consistently overstrained don't relax right away. If it's bad you can get a suboccipital nerve block, which is sort of like a reset. But if the posture issue isn't fixed, they'll just strain again.
posted by basalganglia at 4:48 PM on December 1, 2018 [1 favorite]


Try sitting or standing with your arms up folded in front of your forehead and supported on something, such as the mantlepiece or a cupboard. The idea is to take all the weight of your arms so they are not dangling or pulling on your shoulders. Sometimes it is the top of the trapezius muscle that gives trouble where it attaches at the base of the skull. If you rest your arms like this for a few minutes and it gives you some relief you'll know what it is.
posted by Jane the Brown at 4:58 PM on December 1, 2018 [1 favorite]


Human heads are super heavy! Does yours spend a lot of time looking down at a phone? That can be a massive strain on your neck and the tiny muscles at the back of your head.

I also get tender spots like you describe when I'm having a food reaction — too much gluten, dairy, caffeine/chocolate or sugar (or all three!) usually does it.
posted by iamkimiam at 5:10 PM on December 1, 2018 [3 favorites]


This is always a pillow problem for me. There are a million different solutions depending on your exact physiology, but I'm just saying it may be time to interrogate your pillow and mattress situation. You are likely using your head to support your neck when you sleep, so the solution may have as much to do with your neck and shoulders as the head itself.
posted by Lyn Never at 5:19 PM on December 1, 2018


I had this problem a lot when I was (a) carrying a backpack for extended periods, and (b) working on a laptop at desks/tables of various heights . I think the extended periods of angling the head down to look at a screen is probably a big factor.

If you have to work without a proper monitor / keyboard setup, maybe try a stand for the laptop to bring the screen up higher, so you don’t have to tilt your head down; and a wireless keyboard/mouse.

Also, look into stretches for your trapezius and levator scapulae.

And seconding the pillow recommendation. I got one of those pillows made out of buckwheat husks, and it greatly improved much of the neck and head muscle problems i’d had.

Also, exercise; any movement that gets your arms and upper torso doing things besides maintaining static loads for extended period.
posted by armoir from antproof case at 5:50 PM on December 1, 2018


I had the same thing for a long time. Sitting in front of a computer for 7+ hours a day is an excellent way to develop what is called "forward head posture," where your head is out in front of your shoulders and the rest of your body. This causes some of your neck muscles to work overtime (it could be the neck flexors in the front OR the neck extensors in the back, depending on how exactly you hold your head), and the opposing muscles to work less than they should. Once you have this habit for long enough, you will start holding your head this way in the rest of your life too, even if you're no longer in front of the computer. It's very easy for it to become your new "neutral."

The solution for forward head posture depends a lot on the specifics of your body. For me, none of the above solutions (massage, pillows, bite guard, general exercise) were effective.

Two posture exercises helped somewhat. One was called "Static Back," sometimes also called "Constructive Rest" or "90-90 Breathing," which is done on the floor and allows the muscles of your entire back to relax. You may need a towel under your neck to be comfortable in this position. The other is its cousin "Air Bench," which is the same position but positioned vertically against the wall to teach your joints what good vertical alignment under load feels like. Both exercises are described here.

The thing that helped the most was finding a physical therapist who was well trained with neck issues. She noticed that it was my neck extensors in the back that were overworking and my neck flexors in the front that were weak. This is the opposite of what you might think, and it's primarily because to compensate for my forward head posture, I was craning my neck upward in order to look straight ahead. Crucially, she also noticed there was a rotational component (the left side was working harder than the right side, so my head was always a little bit turned and tilted as well). To fix this, she had me practice neck flexion/tilt/rotation in a very particular way that was the opposite of what my muscles were used to doing. It took a LOT of time (about 2 months of daily practice) to be able to get this right, because I'd spent years if not decades avoiding this exact movement.

Now that I have trained my neck muscles to work correctly, my neck tension has gone down by 90%. I heartily recommend finding a good physical therapist who specializes in neck issues (which is somewhat rare).

In the long term, I also recommend finding a variety of positions in which to study or use the computer. ANY position, no matter how ergonomic, will be a problem if you spend all day in it. What you need is several different positions that you alternate between. For example, you could try a standing desk, a half kneeling chair, and a yoga ball for 2 hours each. Or you could try face-down on the bed, cross-legged on the couch, and sitting upright in a regular chair. Consider also taking regular movement breaks during your studying.
posted by danceswithlight at 8:14 PM on December 1, 2018 [20 favorites]


Hi. I don’t know what your insurance is like, but this is likely an answer and cure that a physical therapist can address. Seek this treatment.
posted by jbenben at 11:10 PM on December 1, 2018


This was a tangential issue that I encountered when I was getting physical therapy for tingling in my arm. They basically said it was caused by a pinched nerve due to poor posture, BUT!

The posture issue, with symptoms including neck pain just like you describe, was aggravated by muscle weakness in my upper back. Something about the upper back muscles not properly supporting my neck and this causing my neck muscles to overwork. So my daily PT exercised included ones that targeted strengthening my upper back - the shoulder blade area. This helped strengthen those muscles and naturally cause better posture.

I think a lot of people harp on posture without realizing posture is a symptom; not a cause.
posted by DoubleLune at 5:50 AM on December 2, 2018 [1 favorite]


I agree with danceswithlight that it's likely a foreward head problem. That is what it is with me. If so, it will likely be very hard to fix. If you wear glasses, getting them fitted would help. Nothing promotes forward head so much as continually trying to keep loose glasses from slipping down your nose.
posted by ckridge at 7:07 AM on December 2, 2018


Thirding that it's probably from looking down at your phone. I have heard physical therapists at work (I'm a nurse and work in rehab environment) advise patients to sit upright and hold or place device at eye level. It's called text neck if want to google it.
posted by loveandhappiness at 7:47 AM on December 2, 2018


This is something I've struggled with for close to 20 years. Some of the possible issues above are interesting, which I'll be exploring myself, but I wanted to chime in to suggest considering Alexander Technique lessons in case it's as useful for you as it has been for me.

If you're not familiar with it, it's an exploration of your own body use, and more specifically patterns of tension that you might hold that you're not even aware of. One of the basic ideas of the technique is that our conscious minds are unaware of so much of what our bodies do. It's all about raising your awareness of the way you use your body and trying to address areas that might be causing you discomfort.

Lessons are usually one on one or in very small groups and it's very hands-on. That's why it's such a great tool for looking at your specific use patterns. We can only speculate on the internet about what kinds of habits you might have that are contributing to your pain.

It's a very difficult subject to read about online. I think the best thing is to find a teacher and just give one or two lessons a try. You might find that it's not for you, but it might give you some tools to find your own solutions.
posted by bkpiano at 11:35 AM on December 2, 2018


« Older Can I use this extension cord on a vitamix blender...   |   Best practices for uninstalling older versions of... Newer »
This thread is closed to new comments.