Headaches: Don’t Learn to Live with them!

Does your head hurt so much you feel like you have been beating your head against the wall for hours?  Well you’re not alone; 42 million people others just like you seek care every year.[i]  In order to select the right provider and type of treatment, it really depends on what type of headache you have so you can get relief as quickly as possible without the cost of going to the wrong provider first.

Finding the source of your headache is the most difficult and controversial part of the process.  One reason for this is that multiple symptoms such as dizziness, light sensitivity, throbbing pain, and nausea can be found with almost all types of headaches (migraines, cluster headaches, tension headaches, and cervicogenic).[ii][iii]

The most common type of headache, which is often times overlooked and misdiagnosed, is the cervicogenic headache.ⁱⁱ   For  the sake of this post I will concentrate on symptoms and causes of cervicogenic headaches.

Cervicogenic headache literally means a pain in the head which is caused by the neck.[iv]  So how is the neck causing your headache?  When the neck does not function or move the way it should it causes the muscles to tighten up to protect it.  This dysfunction or chronice hypomobility of the upper cervical area can irritate the arteries potentially causing a  decrease in blood supply to the head causing a headache.

Additionally the 5^th cranial nerve, often referred to as the trigeminal, has connections to the first five of seven cervical nerve roots, C1-C5.  “The actual source of the information is ambiguous, wereupon the brain, relying on familiarity with the more accustomed input, interprets the pain as arising from the trigeminal field and not from the neck.”^iv  So what this means is that any pain that arises from areas intervated by C1-C3 will be perceived as coming from the “trigeminal area”.  These sensory innervations of C1-C3 include but are not limited to the joints at the base of your skull,  the muscles of your posterior neck, the traps and SCM’s (sternocleidomastoid).^iv

Other causes of cervicogenic headache include cervical spondylosis, uncovertebral arthrosis, rheumatoid arthritis, trigger points in the neck musculature, and poor neck position while sleeping. ^iv,[v],[vi]

Pain that starts at the base of your skull and moves forward to the front of your head, points towards a headache that is cervicogenic in nature.  The intensity of pain can fluctuate from mild to severe and occurs almost daily.  This type of headache may also be exacerbated my moving your head and neck around.  “The most universally accepted finding in the cervical spine in cervicogenid headache sufferers is suboccipital tenderness upon palpation.” ⁱⁱⁱ

This brief summary of signs and symptoms of cervicogenic headaches is by no means an exhaustive list, but was written to help you understand the importance of the neck in the cause of headaches.  You should have your headache evaluated by a professional, and by thorough evaluation the cause or your headache should be determined.  The best treatment for cervicogenic headaches know to date as stated by Hubka, Whittingham, Vernon and Gemmell et al., is the chiropractic technique (aka getting adjusted).  So Call your Fort Collins Headache Chiropractor right now at 970.491.9191 and get your headache evaluated!

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