Mark Gurarie is a freelance writer, editor, and adjunct lecturer of writing composition at George Washington University.

Huma Sheikh, MD, is board-certified in neurology and specializes in migraine and stroke. She co-founded the migraine and vascular section for the American Headache Society.

There’s never a good time for a headache. It can be frustrating and inconvenient when they pop up. Over-the-counter (OTC) medicines are usually able to manage the pain, but one natural way to treat it is with ice packs. Cold therapy (clinically referred to as cryotherapy) can help with many kinds of headaches, including migraines and other primary headache disorders.

In this article, you’ll learn how to use ice packs, how they relieve pain, and what you can do to prevent headaches.

Applying ice packs and cooling your head to take on headache pain is a tried-and-true method, and evidence for it is robust. Studies have shown that it helps relieve migraines (which are headaches that are often recurrent, more severe, and lead to other symptoms such as nausea) and tension headaches (which are more common and milder), among other types. Some key findings include:

In response to cold, your blood vessels become narrower, affecting circulation to nerves associated with pain. Cold therapy slows nerve transmission of pain messaging, while also reducing the local inflammation (swelling) that is often at the root of the problem. Basically, this therapy reduces sensations of pain by replacing them with those of cold.   

Cold therapy can easily be done at home using household materials, though there are also many reusable cold packs available in stores. The three primary means of applying the cold to your head are:

Generally, the idea is to cool the forehead and temples or neck for sessions of 15 to 20 minutes at a time. This can be repeated multiple times a day and as needed if symptoms persist.

When icing, don’t let ice or cold packs directly touch the skin. Keep a cloth between them and your head or neck.

Related: How to Avoid Ice Burn When Treating an Injury

Ice packs and cold therapy can be helpful in reducing headaches after they’ve set in, but there’s also a lot you can do to prevent headaches. Much depends on the specific nature of your issues—what treats tension headaches, for instance, may not work for migraines—but the key is to find what works for you.

Here are some tips for stopping headaches from coming on:

OTC and prescribed painkillers and antihistamines, when used too often, can cause medication overuse headaches (MOH), also called rebound headaches. This can cause nearly daily headaches that come on as your medications wear off.

If you’re taking drugs like Advil (ibuprofen) or Tylenol (acetaminophen) more than three times a week for pain, talk to your doctor.

Using ice packs on the temple and neck is an effective way to manage and ease headaches. Cold therapy has been shown effective against many kinds of headaches, especially migraines and tension headaches.

Doctors recommend you apply the ice for 15 minutes at a time, and you can repeat the therapy multiple times a day. Make sure that a cloth or towel separates your skin from the ice or cold pack during application.

Headache prevention entails getting adequate sleep, exercising, staying hydrated, avoiding triggers, and promoting relaxation, among other strategies.

When it comes to headache management, the more means for relief you have at your disposal, the better off you’ll be. Applying ice packs, along with other prevention strategies and therapies, can help get you pain free and back on track. If you suffer from severe or frequent headaches, be sure to talk to your healthcare provider about what you can do.

Both heat and icing can help headaches, and individual preferences vary. In general, though, people with migraine prefer cold therapy, while tension headache sufferers prefer heating pads. As with many aspects of headache management, you’ll have to see what works best for you.

The proper course of treatment depends on the type of headache that has set on. OTC analgesics like Tylenol and nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) like Advil or Motrin are frequently recommended first. Tougher headache cases, such as migraines, may require other types of drugs, including triptans, calcitonin gene-related peptide (CGRP) inhibitors, or antiemetic (antinausea) drugs.

Besides medications, there are a number of things to do to on headaches at home:

Vanderpol J, Bishop B, Matharu M, Glencorse M. Therapeutic effect of intranasal evaporative cooling in patients with migraine: a pilot study. J Headache Pain. 2015;16(1). doi:10.1186/1129-2377-16-5

Sprouse-Blum AS, Gabriel AK, Brown JP, Yee MH. Randomized controlled trial: targeted neck cooling in the treatment of the migraine patient. Hawaii J Med Public Health. 2013;72(7):237-241.

Cristina Foralosso H, Lira J, Ramos J, Neves M, Marinho Portolez J, Flor Bertolini G. Cryotherapy in tension headache: analysis of the frequency of symptoms. Neurol Neurosci Rep. 2019;2(1). doi:10.15761/nnr.1000116

Healthwise Staff. Using ice and cold packs. Michigan Medicine.

Estemalik E. Tame your tension headaches naturally.

Ha H, Gonzalez A. Migraine headache prophylaxis. Am Fam Physician. 2019;99(1):17-24.

American Migraine Foundation. Medication overuse headache.

By Mark Gurarie Mark Gurarie is a freelance writer, editor, and adjunct lecturer of writing composition at George Washington University.  

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