Sounds like trigger points to me ... especialy if they are near the skull on the neck.... the whole part of them being painful.. knoted and noticing them more when you have migraines is very much like them...

I have Fibro and RA. I also hve myofascial pain syndrome and the MPS causes taut bands (trigger points) while fibro has tender points.... anyone can get some knots in the muscles so yours could be jut having them or it could be fibro which iscommon with RA.

Massage can help those a lot... they have this thing called a theracane that people like to use a lot on those things along with different muscule rubslike biofreeze. I find that I have some bado nes in my arms, around the forearms, neck, back aorund the shoulder blade, and more places. The ones in my neck can be mild to severe. ThEy pop out more when I get migraines as well. The doctors have injected mine before with marcaine and depomedrol which has decreased some of the spasm and pain but I have them in multiple areas so this is why.

Anyways, my guess is thatyou have some tender or trigger points in your neck/head..

For about three years, I have been getting pain and now tender lumps that come and go in the back of my head, just about in the center. They are sure to touch, hurt when I put my head down on a pillow. When they first started to flare up, it felt as if my "pony tail" was too tight and pulling on my hair. Now I know the difference. I was diagnosed with fibro, my RA count is not very high, so it was discarded. The pain radiants up to the sides and down toward trigger points at the top of my spine.