exercise induced headaches

» monkeydog - Headaches related to running

I don't always get a headache after playing soccer, but I get them quite often. I play soccer 4 days a week and seem to only get the headaches after my Saturday games. My Sat. league is more competitive than the rest, but I feel I am running the same amount. Can I take something like Aspirin or Motrin before I play to head off the headaches? I'm not the only one on my team with this problem. I'm getting plenty of fluids too. I'm open to any help I can get. Quitting soccer is not an option.

-- posted by monkeydog

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» vindona - Re: Headaches related to running

In response to Headaches related to running posted by monkeydog:

Dear monkeydog

Soccer is a great sport. I'm originally from Austria and living in America now for the last 5 years I'm missing playing with my friends back there.
You mention plenty of fluid. Do you mean water? Water can sometimes lead to dehydration to. Try to use electrolytes instead just to test that. Gatorade or similar is fine.
The other thing that I noticed is that many people have a lot of tightness in their upper back, shoulder and neck area. During resting periods your blood circulation might not have a problem to pass through these areas of tightness, but when your circulation increases during exercise and larger amounts of blood need to pass these areas, the blood might have a problem to pass fast enough. This leads to increased pressure in these blood vessels which can be experienced as throbbing or pain and if it is close enough to the head area, it could show up as a headache.
Try the following: Make sure you warm up your shoulder neck area before a game. I remember my soccer buddy's were always acting like they would only have legs. But soccer is a full body sport.
Also you mentioned that your headaches only happen during the weekend game. Maybe it is because you are more ambitious. I've seen that a lot of athletes when they are more eager to achieve something make fists, keep their elbows stiff at 90 degrees and draw their shoulders slightly up during the sports event.
Besides using up energy just from holding the arms in that position, it also puts strain on the neck and shoulder area, plus it decreases the circulation in those areas. Test yourself. See how loose your shoulders are during the game and during your sprints. Remember: Holding your arms stiff does not make you faster! Shake out your shoulders and arms frequently during the game and try to keep them loose during runs. Also doing neck rolls can keep your neck loose during the game.

Hope this helps
michael
http://www.natural-headache-remedy.com

-- posted by vindona

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