Massage for tension headaches in Daly City, and where it actually helps

Steady, mild-to-moderate pressure on both sides of the head, lasting anywhere from 30 minutes to 7 days. The National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke calls tension-type headache the most common headache condition, and most people describe a belt tightening around the skull rather than a throb.

NINDS separates it from migraine on 4 points: no pre-headache aura, no nausea or vomiting, no worsening when you walk or climb stairs, and sensitivity to light or sound but not both. A headache that throbs on one side, brings nausea, or gets worse when you move points somewhere else and needs a different plan than an hour on a table.

Neck, Shoulder & Head Pain Relief, at $90 for 60 minutes or $130 for 90 minutes. It is the one booking on the menu built around exactly that territory: the base of the skull, the shoulder line, the upper back and the scalp, rather than an even sweep from heels to neck.

The hour covers that ground at a working pace. The 90 minute booking buys repetition on whichever side has been carrying the load, which is usually the right call if the headaches have been arriving most days rather than most weeks.

The 15 minute scalp add-on at $20 attaches to any booking and is the piece people most often wish they had added. Hot stones, cupping and a hot compress come with the massage at no extra charge, and heat across a locked shoulder line is doing more work than it gets credit for.

The dull fundamentals, and they outperform anything you can buy. Mayo Clinic's self-care guidance for tension-type headache leads with lifestyle and gets specific: eat on a regular schedule and skip no meals, drink plenty of water, and hold the same wake time and bedtime 7 days a week, weekends included.

Caffeine cuts both ways. Mayo puts the threshold at 400 milligrams a day, roughly 4 cups of coffee, above which it starts causing headaches rather than easing them — and quitting suddenly causes them too. A steady moderate amount most days beats a 5-cup Tuesday followed by a dry Saturday.

For the muscle tension itself Mayo's direct advice is heat, delivered 5 ways: a heating pad on low, a hot water bottle, a hot shower or bath, a warm compress, or a hot towel. Ice works for some people instead. Both are cheap enough to try tonight.

6175 Mission St, Daly City, CA 94014, open 10 AM to 9 PM every day. Book online through Square, call (415) 916-3282, or walk in when a room is free.

We are on the Mission Street corridor in Top of the Hill, a few blocks inside the Daly City line, with metered street parking on Mission Street — free on Sundays and holidays — and residential side streets a block off the corridor. Check the posted signs. Daly City BART is about half a mile away and the Muni 14 Mission stops on the street outside.

Say at the start if bright light is part of the headache; the rooms are lit low and can go lower. Every room runs its own Levoit air purifier, which is worth knowing if scent is one of your triggers, and unscented oil is available for the asking.