Headaches are a common health condition with many different causes from neck pain, tension, medication, to hormones.
WHO: migraines affecting around 1 in every 5 women and around 1 in every 15 men.
SYMPTOMS: The International Headache classification divides headaches into categories. The majority are primary headaches:
*Migraine is the most common and disabling of these. It is characterised by nausea, photophobia and/or phonophobia with moderate to severe pain, lasting between four and 72 hours.
*Tension Type Headache (TTH) is a milder, bilateral, non-throbbing primary headache without the features of migraine.
Patients with migraine or TTH have a significantly higher prevalence of neck pain with headache.
Secondary headaches are caused by another problem:
* Cervicogenic headache (CGH) is one of these. Patients have neck pain with headache. There will be clear link with neck movements causing headache, without this the cervical spine is unlikely to be the cause.
Medication Overuse Headache (MOH) occurs with analgesia overuse in headache-susceptible individuals, such as those with migraine or TTH, resulting in a constant, severe headache. If you are using NSAIDs/paracetamol on more than 15 days each month or triptans/ opiates on more than 10 days each month you should see your GP about possible MOH
TREATMENT
Headache patients have been successfully treated with Physiotherapy:
Manual therapy – mobilisations, massage etc
Acupuncture as recommended by NICE guidelines.
Advice and education: exercise, lifestyle, posture
Find out more information at:
https://www.csp.org.uk/frontline/article/clinical-update-headache-assessment-treatment-approaches
