If you have recently been involved in a car accident and now have head or neck pain, even if you didn't think you were badly injured at the time, you could easily benefit from massage therapy. For instance, a deep tissue massage can often help with the discomfort of strained muscles, dull headaches and even some cases of whiplash.

In addition, if you have been experiencing head or neck pain since the car accident and being touched in those areas is difficult for you, you might be able to benefit from a Cranial Sacral massage. Some massage clients have reported noticeable reduction of their pain after just a single trigger point massage.

Therefore, if neck or head pain after your car accident is having a negative impact on your life and your physician has determined that massage therapy won't exacerbate your symptoms, you need to be aware of the following information.

#1-Deep Tissue Massage

A deep tissue massage involves extensive pressure into affected muscles that goes deep into the area in order to force them to relax. Since it is not unusual for people experiencing a car accident to tense up at the last minute and tense muscles are often easier to injure or stress than relaxed muscles, your on-going pain could be remedied by a series of deep tissue massages.

However,it's important to note that regardless of what you think the cause of your pain is, it's best to speak with your health care provider prior to your first massage therapy. By doing so, it's possible to rule out a tiny fracture in your spine or vertebral damage that is contributing to your pain and permits you to be sure that the in-depth muscle manipulations commonly associated with massage therapy is safe for you to receive.

#2-Cranial Sacral Therapy

Whiplash and trauma to the spine or neck, both of which will often manifest after a car accident, are common causes of head and neck pain. Unfortunately, muscle trauma or damage cannot be seen on a standard x-ray and cranial nerves are frequently impacted from the accident. Since the cranial nerves are very close to the head, neck and spine, their stress or swelling after an injury results in significant pain that does not always appear with an obvious cause.

Alternatively, your pain might be attributed to your stretched, injured or otherwise impaired neck muscles impacting the surrounding bones, resulting in additional and painful tension that needs to be released. A Cranial Sacral Massage is a gentler, slower technique than the deep tissue massage and is a popular choice for patients whose discomfort and pain is so severe that being touched is not always pleasant.

#3- A Trigger Point Massage

Trigger points are tiny groups of muscle fibers found deep within muscles. If you are experiencing neck pain, the trigger points that might be the problem are probably found at the base of the skull. Even though trigger points themselves are quite small, it is often possible for them to cause significant pain, because they may not relax on their own. If you have ever heard about knotted muscles, that painful condition is actually irritated trigger points.

When trigger points are injured or tense, they can become painful and since they are inside muscle tissue, that pain can spread to a larger area. Fortunately, your massage therapist can massage the area to relieve your pain and as mentioned earlier, some people have reported noticeable improvements after just one session.

In conclusion, chronic, persistent or acute pain in the head and neck are often reported after seemingly minor automobile accidents that did not cause any visible injuries at the time. If that sounds all too familiar, you are likely to find the above information to be very useful.