Headaches can seemingly develop out of nowhere. One minute you’re fine, the next you’re dealing with a pounding headache. Because they can develop quickly or hang around for hours, many people assume that there’s little they can do to prevent these seemingly random headaches, but oftentimes that’s not the case. There are a number of ways that you can work to prevent or treat headaches when they develop, and a physical therapist can be a wonderful ally in your quest to keep headaches at bay. In today’s blog, we explain how physical therapy can help keep a specific type of headache – the cervicogenic headache – under control.
Understanding Cervicogenic Headaches
As the name implies, a cervicogenic headache is one that originates from an issue in the upper or cervical portion of the neck. There are a number of key structures in your upper neck area, and if any of them become damaged or compressed, a variety of symptoms can manifest, with one of the most common symptoms being a headache. Some of the most common underlying problems that lead to the onset of a cervicogenic headache include:
- Arthritic degeneration
- Pinched nerve
- Poor posture
- Whiplash
- Natural structural degeneration from aging
- Bulging or herniated discs
- Fractures
- Tumor
Cervicogenic headaches tend to produce symptoms on one side of a person’s head or are felt behind one or both of a person’s eyes. Oftentimes this pain, head throbbing and sensitivity to light is paired with neck discomfort, like weakness or stiffness. If you’re experiencing any of the above symptoms, consider heading right to a physical therapist’s office instead of trying to get in with your primary care provider, because we can likely help you find relief much sooner.
Treating Cervicogenic Headaches
In order to put an end to your recurrent or chronic cervicogenic headaches, the first step is to truly understand why these headaches are developing in the first place. As you can see with the above list, and because the true issue isn’t rooted where the most obvious symptoms are manifesting, it’s easy to misdiagnose why these headaches are developing. If you’re not attacking the true cause of your headaches, it’s unlikely you’ll find relief.
To get to the bottom of your headaches, set up an appointment with a physical therapist. They’ll begin by talking with you about your symptoms and considering some simple baseline assessments to get a better understanding of you and your health. Some hands-on manipulation and having you perform some gentle exercises can pinpoint the source of the issue and help your provider understand the best ways to tackle the issue.
For the majority of the underlying causes listed above, physical therapy works wonders. Your physical therapist can target pinched nerves with gentle decompression exercises, they can strengthen supportive structures in your neck so that stress doesn’t fatigue different areas as quickly, or we can help you make tweaks to your posture so that your neck can get through your workday unscathed. Whether your neck would benefit from strength and flexibility improvements or we need to focus on alignment and posture positioning, we’re confident that we can find a safe, effective and minimally invasive treatment that will not only address the issues in your neck, but resolve your cervicogenic headaches as well.
To learn more about our process for treating cervicogenic and other types of headaches like tension headaches or migraines, reach out to the team at OrthoRehab Specialists today at (612) 339-2041.
PT of Costa Rican National Soccer Team for 2007 World Cup in Victoria, CAN. Clinical Instructor for University of Minnesota Doctor of Physical Therapy Affiliations
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