Video Transcript: Nerve Glide Exercise for Treating Headaches

Hi, everyone! Dr. Orit Hickman here from Pain Science Physical Therapy. I wanted to put together a really quick video to show you an exercise that I love to give [to] patients when they are experiencing headaches that are due to irritation of the nerves that come from the base of the skull. So, if you have headaches that we call “suboccipital headaches,” and they tend to start at the base of the skull, and they kind of wrap around the top of the head, then this exercise, or this what we call nerve glide, might be really helpful for a headache. Sometimes, I’ll give this to patients with back pain as well. So, for those of you who have both headaches and back pain, this might be a good one. So, let me show you how this goes.

First of all, if you’re watched any of my previous videos, then you know how much I love to give nerve gliding exercises. And, nerves really like blood flow. They really like movement. They really like to have a lot of space. And so, in this particular exercise, you’re going to be gliding your spinal cord. And, the suboccipital nerves come off [of] the top of the spinal cord as they come out the back of the neck and then wrap around the back of the head.

So, let me show you this exercise. So, what you’re going to do is you’re going to find a place that you feel really comfortable to lay down. You can do this on the floor. You can do this on your bed. [It] really doesn’t matter, as long as you feel comfortable. You can also have your head supported on a pillow if you feel like that is better for you. I’m perfectly comfortable on this mat table. So, we’re going to be in just this position.

So, with a nerve glide, what you’re doing is you’re not stretching a nerve. You’re just moving a nerve. It’s kind of like if you move dental floss between your teeth. So, with this particular glide, what you’re going to do is you’re going to imagine that your pelvis is like a soup bowl, and you’re going to tilt your pelvis in as if you were going to spill the soup towards your belly button. So, most of us are used to doing this the other direction with the pelvis, which is arching the back. So, instead, what you’re going to do is you’re going to flatten the back a little bit. You’re going to tilt the pelvis under. At the same time as you do that, you’re going to lift your head up. So, I’m going to show you what this looks like. You’re going to tilt your pelvis and lift your head just ever so slightly. And then, you’re going to bring your pelvis and your head back to position. Okay? So, let me show you that again. Tilt your pelvis. Lift your head up. And, at the same time, you’re going to slowly bring the pelvis and the head back to a resting position. I’m going to do that one more time. Okay? And, I really do love this nerve glide, and the reason why is that it’s very gentle and it’s very easy. It really shouldn’t increase your symptoms.

That is a very, very different position than if you tilt your pelvis and you bring your head forward, which means rounding more in the spine. That can actually irritate the nerves on the back of the head. So, if you sit slumped for periods of time, that might be actually more uncomfortable. If you notice that you have a headache after you’ve been sitting for a while maybe in front of the computer or the TV or on your phone or even reading your e-reader, then what might be happening is you’re putting the nerves through too much stretch. And, they can get sensitive to that.

So, try a few of these nerve glides and see if that helps with your symptoms. Typically, what I tell patients to do is repeat about five to ten repetitions maybe three to five times a day. Do that and see if that helps with your headaches.

Let me know how it goes. I’d love a thumbs-up if you like this video. And, please feel free to subscribe if you want to get more videos or get informed of when I put more videos out that talk about pain, our treatment approach to the treatment of persistent pain, as well as our use of physical therapy in doing that. Have a great day!