What To Do When You Have A Cervicogenic Headache

Experiencing headaches? Want to learn what you can do about them? Let’s take a moment to discuss a type of headache that is typically glossed over in shorter reviews, the cervicogenic headache.

A cervicogenic headache represents a type of headache that is completely different than all other headaches you may experience.

You might be wondering, what sets this headache apart from the caffeine headache, barometric pressure headaches or scintillating scotoma? Also, what you should do if you begin to experiencing one of them? What are the treatments, and what is the recovery like?

Let’s take a moment to answer these questions and more as we get to the bottom of a one of these headaches.

What Is A Cervicogenic Headache?

According to the National Institute of Health, a cervicogenic headache is a chronic, hemicranial pain syndrome. Simply put, the pain that we feel in our head is not actually coming from our head.

Unlike every other kind of headache out there, this headache originates in another part of the body before making its way to the head where we experience it. Typically, this headache is a secondary headache that is caused by another physical issue or illness.

If we just take a look at the word “cervico” in the name, we can also figure out a bit more about this kind of discomfort. This is because “cervico” relates to the cervical spine, so it refers to a pain that originates from this part of the body.

Most headaches are associated with the place in the body where the pain is felt. As we mentioned above, a cervicogenic headache is slightly different. This is because the pain can be felt in other areas of the body that are connected to the neck area.

Headache Locations

Based on the diagram below provided by Health Hype(1) on the different regions of the skull where headaches can occur, the headache is most likely to occur in the occipital and potentially parietal parts of the skull. This headache is diagnosed when the patient puts the origin point of a headache at the base of the neck. Included in this is imaging evidence of a lesion in the soft tissue at the base of the neck.

Above, we briefly discussed how the headache can occur when there is a lesion in the soft tissue around the neck. While this is not the only case in which this can occur, it is the most common. The lesion will have to be removed in order for a cessation of the headaches to occur. Typically, results are seen within 3 months of the operation.

These particular headaches can also occur if there is a neck disorder. Whether or not the cause can be treated directly will depend heavily on the kind of disorder causing the headache.

Finally, these painful headaches can occur in a small number of occurrences where the neck is injured. They will typically go away on their own as the neck repairs itself. No matter the cause, you should seek consultation form your doctor.

Treatments

As briefly mentioned above, the primary cervicogenic headache treatment option is an operation to remove the lesion causing the headaches in the first place.

Prior to and in the 3 months following the operation, you may need to find ways to dull the pain. This can be done through prescription pain medication provided through your doctor, through over the counter pain relief found in any drug store, or through natural remedies.

Depending on the cause of your headache, various other kinds of therapies, besides painkillers, can be used. For example, if your headaches are the result of a neck injury, it makes sense to consult a physical therapist you can help you heal this area of your body.

Conclusion

This article that you just read has all to do with the cervicogenic headache. As we have established, it is a type of discomfort that originates form the cervical spine area of the body, which is the area at the back of the neck.

There are many reasons why a cervicogenic headache can occur, but most often it is due to a lesion or a an injury in this part of the spine.

As with many similar kinds of discomfort, there are many ways to treat this kind of pain. However, you will also need to make sure to address the root cause of the issue, to make sure that it doesn’t continue.

If you continue to suffer from daily headaches, you need to ask yourself: what to do when you have a daily headache? Knowing some of the treatments for this problem can be a huge help for those suffering from daily headaches.

We hope that you are not one of those people but if you are, the article link above can help you with those types of problems.