Cervicogenic Headaches - Are headaches just a pain in the neck?
Pressing? Throbbing? Peircing? Pulsing? Behind the eye? Up the back of your head? Blurry vision? Tension-type? Migraine? Cluster? With so many different types of headaches, it can be hard to know which is which! 15-20% of all headaches are classified as cervicogenic, meaning they are caused by referred pain from a joint or muscle issue in the cervical spine, or neck. There’s excellent evidence for physiotherapy management of these types of headaches, which we’ll run through now.
Diagnosis
Firstly, how do we know whether it IS coming from the neck or not? There are a few things that we can look at to make it more clear. The first and most obvious indicator is if you consistently experience neck pain at the same time as your headache – this provides clear evidence that your neck is contributing at least in part to your headache. Secondly, cervicogenic headaches tend to be more one-sided, tend to be more towards the back of your head and tend to have more of an aching quality – this is not the same for everyone but there is often this pattern. Thirdly, they are most commonly associated with neck stiffness or tenderness to touch; while you may not actively notice neck pain per se, upon assessment your physio may provoke some symptoms which are associated with a cervicogenic headache.
Physiotherapy Treatment
Now considering these headaches stem from issues with joints and muscles in the neck, an experienced physio is well placed to assess and treat these presentations. A combination of manual therapy techniques along with specific activation, mobility and strengthening exercises can ease or eliminate pain. Along with this are some other things in your life which you can modify to assist your headaches – these may include desk setup, work and study habits, postural strength and – for us millenials – too much time looking down at your phone!
Bear in mind (no pun intended) that, with so many different types, a thorough assessment of your headache is most important to ensure that we are actually treating the right thing – again this is where an experienced physio is well placed. If you think your headache could fit some of these criteria then it’s always booking in for a free assessment to get it checked out. Who would have thought! Not just a pain in the neck!