Head & Neck
People With Migraine Keep Pointing to the Same Spot on the Back of the Neck. Here’s What’s Under It.
Why so many people keep pressing the same tender spot, why it’s so hard to look after on your own, and a hands-free way to get heat and pressure on the back of your neck.
In 2021, someone on Reddit posted a photo of the back of a neck with one area highlighted, just under the skull. The title asked: “Does anyone ever get pain in this specific spot of their neck?”
More than 700 people upvoted it and more than 250 replied. Many of them had pain in exactly that spot. It was a migraine forum, and several people said their headaches start right there. But the replies kept coming back to something more practical: what they do about that spot at home.
Some press it themselves with a thumb or a knuckle. Some get a partner or a parent to dig in right there. Some wedge a heated massage pillow under the skull. Three different people described the feeling with the same three words:
“Hurts so good.”
Not everyone has someone to ask, and doing it yourself only goes so far. As one reply put it: “I couldn’t put enough pressure on those spots on the back of my neck to help.”
What’s under the spot
Find it in 10 seconds
- Put two fingertips on the back of your neck, just under the bony edge of your skull, about an inch to either side of the middle.
- Press gently and nod “yes” slowly.
Ropey, tender, or weirdly good to press? That’s the spot.
Under your fingertips is a group of small muscles called the suboccipitals, four on each side.1 They steady your head and handle its small movements: a nod, a tilt, a glance over your shoulder. Whenever your head is up, they’re working.
They also sit at a crossroads. Nerves from the top of the neck feed into the same relay station in the brainstem as nerves from the head and face. 2 , 3 That shared wiring is one reason a problem in the neck can be felt as pain in the head.
Had neck pain in the past year
From a study of 797 adults in Denmark, published in Cephalalgia in 2015.⁴
The problem with doing it by hand
It works, for a few minutes. Your own thumbs tire fast, and it’s hard to press firmly with your arms raised behind your head. Someone else’s hands depend on someone else’s evening, and even then: “The person rubbing the spot can’t do it hard enough.”
The best version anyone described was a mom’s: “it’s like she’s holding all the weight of my head for me and has her fingers in the neck areas that hurt.”
Without a helper, people improvise. One reply described the edge of a firm pillow as “a last resort,” then heat pads and pillows together: “Its never perfect but its better than nothing.”
| What people use | What it gives | The catch |
|---|---|---|
| Thumbs, yours or someone else’s | Firm pressure, right on the spot. | Yours tire fast. Theirs aren’t always free. |
| The edge of a pillow | Some pressure. | Hard to keep in place. |
| A heat pack | Warmth. | No pressure. |
| Hugterra Massager$139, onceSee it → | Heat, massage and pressure together, hands-free, whenever you want it. | Firm at first. You lie down, and it works the back of the neck, not one exact point. |
You know exactly where you want the pressure. Getting it every time you need it, without asking anyone, is the hard part.
Here’s how to get heat and pressure on the back of your neck without asking anyone. See the Hugterra Massager →
Heat and pressure, no second person needed
The Hugterra Massager is a curved cradle you lie back on. Like the best neck rub in that thread, it starts by holding the weight of your head. Your neck settles into the curve, and that weight rests the back of your neck on rows of raised rubber nodes and two smooth steel pads that warm up to 107°F.
You run it yourself from a small remote: heat, massage and EMS (a mild electrical pulse), each on its own three levels. Your hands stay free, nobody has to stay up with you, and after 15 minutes it shuts itself off. To stop sooner, just lift your head.
One buyer who lives with constant pain uses it to wind down:
“I use the massage and heat combo and that helps to relax me for the night or when I’m ready for a nap.”lookin4vinny, 5-star review on hugterra.com
$139 · Free shipping · 60-day money-back trial
What it costs
Hugterra™ Massager
$139$300
Sale price. One payment, no subscription.
- Free relief kit, while supplies lastHerbal headache patches for the temples or the base of the neck, 12 warming neck and shoulder patches, and a 14-day digital guide. Hugterra values the kit at $64.
- Free shippingShips in 1–2 business days. US delivery usually takes 4–8 business days.
- 2-year warranty
$139 once · Free shipping
The guarantee, in plain words. You have 60 days from delivery. If it isn’t for you, email contact@hugterra.com, send it back in its original packaging, and get a full refund.
What buyers are saying
The Best Invention for Neck Issues
“When it arrived, I took it to work so that my colleague could also use it. He used it everyday and then a month later, he said ‘I can finally turn my neck all the way to the left and right.’”
Review on hugterra.com, October 2025
Actually Works!!!
“I have had mine for about a year now. ALWAYS get great results. … Just the right angle for my neck. … I have tried numerous remedies, therapies, gadgets over the years. This one works!!”
Review on hugterra.com, September 2026
Daily use
“It’s easy to use and incorporate with my daily routine.”
Review on hugterra.com, February 2026
Reviewing positive purchase and shipping process.
“My entire order shipped with zero issues, was well packed, had accurate tracking information … All items are as described, arrived undamaged, and in new condition.”
Review on hugterra.com, May 2025
Customer Care
“Hugterra customer service took care and replied to all the questions I had about the neck machine.”
Review on hugterra.com, August 2025
The people in that thread weren’t asking for a cure. Many already had a neurologist and a plan. What they wanted was smaller: firm pressure and warmth, right when they need it, without waiting for someone else to be free.
You have 60 days to see whether 15 minutes on a heated cradle can stand in for pressing it by hand.
$139 · Free shipping · Full refund within 60 days
SOURCES
- George T, Tadi P. Anatomy, Head and Neck, Suboccipital Muscles. StatPearls. 2023. PMID 33620839
- Bogduk N. Cervicogenic headache: anatomic basis and pathophysiologic mechanisms. Curr Pain Headache Rep. 2001;5(4):382–386. doi:10.1007/s11916-001-0029-7
- Bartsch T, Goadsby PJ. The trigeminocervical complex and migraine. Curr Pain Headache Rep. 2003;7(5):371–376. doi:10.1007/s11916-003-0036-y
- Ashina S, et al. Prevalence of neck pain in migraine and tension-type headache: a population study. Cephalalgia. 2015;35(3):211–219. doi:10.1177/0333102414535110