Introduction
I am sure everyone has had a headache one time in their life. The term headache can be described as any pain or discomfort occurring in or around the cephalic area. Now, with pain occurring, there must be a specific cause right? Is it coming directly from the pain location, is it originating from another location and causing those issues, or is it literally “all in your head?” There can be causes for each of those scenarios but in this article, we will talk about the headaches that are most commonly diagnosed and “coincidentally” have a high correlation of neck dysfunction associated with them.
Cervicogenic Headaches
If you have ever researched headaches or went to a health professional that has helped you with diagnosing headaches before, you have probably heard of this one, cervicogenic headaches. “Cervic” refers to the cervical, which is the name of the vertebrae and area of the neck and “genic” which refers to origination. This translates to headaches originating from the cervical area. These headaches account for roughly 15%-20% of all the chronic/recurrent headaches diagnosed. With so many different anatomical structures at play like soft tissue, hard tissue, and neurological involvement. It’s hard to pinpoint a specific cause leading to a specific solution. However, upon research, there is one common link. This link is explained as C1-C3 dysfunction and how it was found to be the cause of these headaches to continually occur. Which makes sense if you look at this from just an anatomical standpoint. We have a multitude of important structures at play in this area like important muscles that keep fine motor movement and also the brainstem that feeds vital neurological information to the entire body.
Even deeper and parallel with this dysfunction. A structure in the brainstem that has been found strongly across research leading to pain being sent to the brain after there is dysfunction with the upper cervical area called, “Trigeminocervical nucleus”. This specific anatomy gathers pain signals from the joints, vertebrae, head, muscles, and sends them to the brain for processing. With there being a direct connection of this pathway from this structure and C1-C3 nerve roots, this causes an intertwined highway between any dysfunction of these articulations and pain being sent for headaches. The triggers for this type of headache usually derive from the negative effects of daily life and occur regularly on one side. Poor posture or constant tech neck influences the muscles and joints, which can cause dysfunction leading to headaches. Neck injuries or whiplash after a car accident definitely can influence the stability of our neck. Also, overall cervical joint stiffness will continually influence our neurological pain pathways. This is why we must be vigilant of our posture not only with technology but also with daily life.
Tension Headaches
The next headache is most commonly diagnosed and has a strong connection to the cervical area. This headache is called a tension headache. This usually occurs due to muscular tension that creates distress. This is not joint related but mainly soft tissue related, being bilaterally across the neck to the head and wrapping around the head causing a cap-like pain. Over 70% of the time, the pain can be associated with bilateral neck and shoulder muscle involvement. The most common triggers leading to onset with this type of headache is stress, poor posture, mental fatigue, screen time, and consistent activation of the shoulder and neck muscles. There is no nausea or neurological symptoms related to this specific headache.
Migraines
The last headache is not muscular nor joint disruption in origin but neurologically, migraines. While this type of headache is not directly caused by cervical pain, 70%-80% of sufferers report having neck pain. Research also states that approximately 12%-20% of people in the world experience migraines with a higher frequency occurring with females. This is associated more with the central nervous system and processing difficulties between the brain and the nervous system. So, what causes disruption between the processing in the central nervous system? Well, that could be a whole article in itself.. The symptoms associated with migraines are nausea, light-headedness, vomiting, sound & light sensitivity, and auras in some people. This is important to know because of how detrimental these symptoms can be to daily life. Cervical instability has been known to not only amplify these symptoms but trigger as well. Cervical dysfunction can increase the frequency, intensity, and duration of the migraines.
Conclusion
Now, while we have not touched on all the types of headaches that can be diagnosed, we have gone in depth on a few of the most common types of headaches. We have also discussed how the cervical area can directly and indirectly influence these types of headaches. Whether it is directly from joint restriction and muscular tension or indirectly affecting the symptoms of neurological distortion in migraines. This leads to the fact that there is a direct correlation that should not be ignored. So, with that being said, what assists in keeping the neck fluid and thriving AND ultimately leads to directly and indirectly assisting with headaches. First is being conscious of daily demands you put your neck through, but second, CHIROPRACTIC CARE! You must be aware of good posture, stretching and strengthening the surrounding neck muscles, keep movement so the nervous system isn't interfered with, and lower emotional distress causing tension. But, with all this being done. No one still does everything perfectly. This is how chiropractic helps and is your defense and foundation against such events. It is the only thing that provides motion to specific areas that continue to lock up. I will continue to say that chiropractic care is not a treatment for anything, but what it does do is make sure there is nothing being overlooked. By releasing restriction within the vertebrae, relax muscular tension, and unlock neural distortion to the brain. It lights up the brain leading to functioning at 100%. Remember all the variables we talked about leading to the most common headaches that are diagnosed? Well, that to me sounds like a better plan of action besides taking medication in hope of only dulling the symptoms and not taking care of the root cause. So, the choice is yours! Thank you for making it this far and hope you learned something that you can take with you and remember that headaches are not only associated with the head! As always, Live Primal!💪