Could Your Spine be the Cause of Your Headache?

Headaches are one of the most common types of pain in the body. The Neuroscience Center at NAA report that “70% of Americans will suffer headache pain severe enough to seek medical attention” and more than 8 million Americans a year visit a physician with the complaint of headaches. They also report that more than 45 million people ensure debilitating chronic headaches.

Headaches can:

• be unilateral, bilateral, front, back, top or side of the head
• be intermittent, episodic or constant
• come on suddenly and even ease off just as quickly
• be a mild nuisance to debilitating throbbing pain interfering with normal daily function and activities

2 Types of Headaches: Primary and Secondary

• Primary headaches include migraine, tension, and cluster headache. These headaches are not caused by any underlying problem so examinations and imaging tests are typically completely normal, no matter how severe the symptoms.
• Secondary headaches are physical symptoms that are caused by some other primary condition, which may include an injury, infection, tumor, metabolic disorder or cervical diseases/processes. In cases of secondary headaches, the underlying condition must be diagnosed and treated to find relief. It is also possible that certain types of medication may cause headaches as a side effect.

Headache Relief

With the high number of the population experiencing headaches, a research study was conducted to assess the prevalence of headaches with cervical radiculopathy or myelopathy and the effectiveness of anterior cervical surgery in relieving headache symptoms associated with cervical disease. After the two year follow-up, over 50% of the patients who had disc replacement or spine fusion surgery had significant improvement in their headaches by at least one grade.

Do these headaches sound familiar to you? Have you seen a spine specialist? An assessment of your symptoms and spine might bring you the relief that you’ve been searching for. A thorough and skilled evaluation performed by a specialist is the first step to possible pain relief , your Road to Recovery and improving your quality of life.

For more information and to discuss your options, contact the DISC Spine Institute, experts in minimally invasive treatments, to schedule an appointment and take the first step.