Neck muscles have fairly predictable referred pain areas that can help narrow down which ones to focus on for your particular headache. In my previous post, I listed 5 muscles to look at if your headaches are in your forehead. In this post, I am going to list out the muscles associated with pain in the temple region.
5 Muscles You Can Needle:
1. Upper Trapezius:
This muscles is commonly a culprit in people who have headaches with pain in their temple area.
2.Sternocleidomastoid:
This muscles has 2 different “heads” and each one refers to a different area. For those that suffer from headaches in the temple region, the sternal head is the portion to focus on.
3. Masseter
This muscle is located in the jaw and can radiate to the side of the head as well as into the ear.
4. Temporalis
This muscles is located in the temple region but actually attaches to your jaw and assists with closing the jaw. If you grind your teeth, then this muscle should be assessed along with the masseter.
5. Splenius cervicis
This muscle is located in the back of your neck, below the suboccipital muscles. This muscles can be safely needled
2 Muscles to Avoid Needling:
1. Suboccipital Muscles
These little muscles are located at the base of your skull and can cause temple pain. Most of these muscles cannot be safely needled, so I recommend using manual and self release techniques (like using a Davinci Tool)
2. Semispinalis Capitis
This muscle run parallel to the spine and is located at the top of the neck. Because of its location, this muscle isn’t safe to needle and can be treated with manual trigger point release techniques instead.
The Headache Therapist 