HEADACHE MANAGEMENT
Drug free, headache remedy
Headaches can be a disabling experience. 78% of adults will experience headaches attributed to the cervical spine and muscle tension. At the TMJ & Headache Clinic we use a range of physical therapies to reduce your headache and feel better.
There are many causes of headache, some causes include infection, sinusitis, alteration in blood flow to the brain and cervical or neck related.
Neck Related Headache, or as it is known medically - Cervicogenic Headache, is a secondary headache disorder. In other words, your headache is caused by a neck joint problem. Cervicogenic headache accounts for between 4% to 22% of all headaches seen clinically.
The good news is that by fixing your neck problem, your neck headache can be alleviated.
Your neck headache can originate from a variety of musculoskeletal and neurovascular structures in your upper neck; including the upper three neck joints, C2/3 disc, spinal cord coverings and neck muscles. A dysfunction in any of these areas can trigger pain signals that travel to your trigeminocervical nucleus in your brainstem. This nucleus sends sensory information for both the head and neck to your brain. This information can be transmitted into your brain and interpreted as a headache, even though the neck is the cause of the pain.
The most likely sources of your neck headache is dysfunction of either your upper neck joints, neck muscles or nerves, which trigger pain signals that travel to your trigeminocervical nucleus in your brainstem, where you interpret the pain signals as a neck headache.
The most common cause of neck headache is dysfunction of your upper three neck joints. The most common neck joints involved are your:
Atlanto-occipital joint (O-C1),
Atlanto-axial joint (C1/2), and
C2/3 cervical spine joints.
Put simply, your neck joints can cause neck headache or pain if they are either too stiff or move too much (eg wobbly and unsupported by weak muscles) or are locked in an abnormal joint position eg. locked facet joint or poor posture.
Our physiotherapists are experts in the assessment and correction of neck joint dysfunctions that result in neck headache. Their professional diagnosis and treatment is essential for neck headache sufferers.