A headache that grips like a tight band across both temples calls for different massage work than one that throbs behind a single eye while light and sound become hard to bear. If you live with that second kind, you already know it is neurological, and you know it deserves work chosen for it. I am Geri León, a massage therapist in Castro Valley, and I work with Hayward clients who know that second headache well. My work starts at the tight band where your neck meets the base of your skull, and it starts with choosing the right day for it.
Why I Schedule the Work Between Attacks
If you have ever winced brushing your hair or resting on a pillow mid-attack, you already know the reason. During a migraine, ordinary touch can register as pain, so a massage that would feel gentle on a normal afternoon can feel like far too much. I schedule the work for the stretches between episodes, when touch feels like touch again. And when a session lands on a harder day than we planned for, the answer is lighter contact, a different area, or another day, chosen with you in the moment.
The Band Where Your Neck Meets Your Skull
Neck and shoulder tension travels with migraine, and the band where the small muscles of the upper neck attach to the base of the skull is where I go to work on it. A tight neck can ride alongside migraine without being the cause of it. What I can do is loosen the band itself. I work it with my fingertips in slow holds, waiting for each spot to soften before I go deeper, and your comfort sets that pace at every step. This work can leave your neck feeling less braced and turning easier.
A Session Shaped to the Day You Walk In
Migraine changes how your senses handle the world, and that sensitivity can linger past the headache itself. So before I touch anything, I ask what today can handle. The room can be dimmer, the music can be off, and I keep scented oils out of the session entirely, because smell sensitivity can be part of migraine. Your head and scalp are approached on your terms: I ask before I work near them, start light at the edges of the band, and let your feedback set the depth. You can ask me to lighten or pause at any point, and I check with you before the pressure deepens.
Choosing the Day When Touch Feels Good
We look at your calendar together and place sessions on the stretches that usually run calm for you. A calm-day session runs unhurried, with a dim room if you want it, steady pressure you approve, and time for the muscles to soften. Massage does its own work well here: keeping the muscles of your neck, shoulders, and jaw from carrying so much between episodes. One plain instruction belongs here: a headache that is suddenly different from your usual pattern, or that arrives with new weakness, numbness, vision changes, or trouble speaking, goes to emergency care.
If you can feel that band at the base of your skull as you read this, you have a place to start. Call me, Geri León, at (510) 409-8598, and we can plan a rhythm that fits your weeks. I will shape the first session around what your neck has been holding.
