The most familiar and commonly diagnosed types of headaches are migraine and tension-type. While it is believed that migraine headaches are related to problems with blood flow/vessels in the brain, tension-type headaches originate from the skull muscles and supporting muscles just below the head. There is, however, another relatively common type of headache called the Cervicogenic Headache.
The cervicogenic headache is characterized mainly by pain at the back of the head which can radiate over the top of the head to the front. It usually only affects one side however there are cases in which both sides are affected. The cause of this type of headache doesn’t come from the head, but as the name would suggest, it comes from the neck. People who suffer from cervicogenic headaches often (not always) have accompanying neck symptoms like pain/soreness, stiffness, decreased neck mobility and tight muscles. Some of my patients describe the feeling as a general soreness or tightness that starts from the middle of the neck, traveling upward into the back of the skull.
There are many things that can cause problems in the neck which might manifest as a cervicogenic headache. These range from traumatic whiplash to prolonged poor posture (desk work) to sleeping in a strange position.
The perception of head pain coming from problems in the neck happens because of the way the nerves are wired: injury or insult to the anatomy of the neck sends pain signals upward to a “central hub”. This hub also receives nerves that are in charge of transmitting pain signals from the back and base of skull. As the brain is trying to decipher the information from this central hub it “mixes up” the signals and believes that some of the pain stimulus is coming from the back of the head, while in fact there isn’t a problem with that area. This is the principle known as referred pain.
CranioSacral Therapy Northwest Calgary
Patients with this type of headache respond very well to chiropractic care because the problem stems from the area we deal with most — the spine/back. My treatment for this condition involves giving exercises to strengthen weak muscles, soft tissue techniques to relax tight/spasmed muscles, and chiropractic manipulation to restore proper neck biomechanics. As the proper posture and biomechanics of the spine are restored the injured neck anatomy gets a chance to heal and normalize resulting in headache cessation.
Understanding Headaches – The Cervicogenic Headache
By Samuel Lim D.C.
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