If you work at a desk, this is probably why you are reading this page. The head weighs roughly five kilograms held upright — and considerably more, in terms of load on the neck, once it drifts forward towards a screen.
What usually causes it
- Screen height. A monitor too low pulls the head forward for hours a day.
- Phones. The same problem, worse angle.
- Stress, which is not a metaphor here — people hold tension in the upper trapezius, and it shows up as a stiff neck by Friday.
- A shoulder or upper back problem that the neck has been compensating for.
Why the headaches
Trigger points in the upper trapezius and the muscles at the base of the skull refer pain in a recognisable pattern — up the back of the head, behind the eye, into the temple. People treat these as headaches and reach for painkillers, when the actual source is a knot of muscle in the neck that responds to treatment in minutes.
If pressing a specific spot in your neck or shoulder reproduces your headache, that is a strong clue.
What treatment involves
Releasing the tight structures, restoring rotation, and settling the trigger points that are referring pain. That usually gives quick relief.
Making it last is the other half: sorting the screen height, the posture and the strength work, because the tissue will simply tighten again by next week if it is put back into the same position for forty hours.