I just talked to a friend about this. She had a massage due to a migraine and she massaged her head.

I have a chiropractor who pushes on the lower back of my head until he pushes me into a migraine and then releases the pressure. He has gotten rid of scar tissue by doing that due to a very bad whiplash.

I have also had a pedicure and the guy got rid of my migraine.

Not sure that answers your question.

when i was little i use to massage my mother's head when she use to get migraines, i got so good at it it would go away and she would fall asleep.

My therapist massages my head and face and then works on the neck and shoulders and gets the muscles really good at the base of my neck.
Sometimes it does get rid of a migraine and sometimes it does not. But i have learned I have nerve pain that is partly causing migraines and there is nothing she can do for that.;) If you have a massage envy in your town, you can try them out for 39.00 for an hour massage. Great deal.

I just got home from seeing my chiropractor and today she massaged my head to relieve a killer migraine. She does this frequently for me. She massages the muscles that connect the neck to the base of the skull while at the same time applying pressure to various points on the top of my head. It can be painful as it is being performed but it is worth the pain as it always clears up my migraine 100%! She also has me on pure oxygen at the same time.

I love my chiro, she is amazing!

massage definitely helps! My tension is usually in my upper back and shoulders on the left side, then it just works its way up the neck and into my head. Any massaging of these areas relieves the pain. If it's a bad migraine it won't remove it completely...but preventative massages can help keep the migraine intensity down.

Thanks for all the info. I'm a Licensed Massage Therapist and my goal is to learn enough to be effective against migraines and other chronic pain. The training materials i have talk about massaging the upper back and shoulders, neck and the base of the skull. I personally would add massaging the rest of the skull and face, along with a general relaxation massage. I don't do painful moves like Raven is talking about. I'll apply pressure in the same place but start out very light and let it build so that it's not painful. That's my theory at least. Any willing test subjects?

Dan, mine might feel painful due to my TBI. I don't know. Other than this cranial massage my chiropractor is very gental with my injured neck and back. So maybe the pain is from my head injury.

if I was in Tampa...I would definately take you up on that offer!

Raven,

So you think the pain you're feeling could be not from the chiro being rougher or using more force, but your perception of pain being more sensitive due to your injury?

Have you told the chiro there is pain there? I know you have.....you're not that shy. So what was the answer?

I haven't told her. When it comes to pain I typically suck it up and just deal. Since my MVC there has been a lot of chronic pain and I will be dealing with it the rest of my life so why complain? My chiro and my PT yell at me all the time about not telling them when I am in pain. I just tend to continue forward and work through it. Like my migraines..if one breaks through...I go to work and still get the job done even though on the inside I want to scream in agony! That's just me. Now when my chiro does this cranial massage, this pain is worth it, because when she is done my migraine is gone completely.

I've had an all over body massage twice and my migraine got WAY worse...I mean just AWFULLY worse. So I have never had an all over body massage again. These massages were the kind where they massaged the painful fibrmyalgia trigger points. Maybe that will help you know how NOT to treat fibro people. And yes, I drank tons of water aftere these massages, as they told me to do.

my dad sometimes massages my temples and it helps. never has taken the migraine completely away. it always comes back after he stops. my best friend studied a lot about massage therapy and told shiatzu works for them. haven't tried that yet.