Headaches

Does this sound like you?

• Your headache starts at the base of your skull and spreads forward
• It's nearly always on the same side
• Your neck is stiff and sore when the headache is bad
• It builds through the workday, especially at a screen
• Certain neck movements or positions set it off

Headaches that come from the neck

If that's familiar, your headache may be coming from your neck.

The upper joints and muscles of your neck share nerve connections with the structures at the base and side of your head. When those neck structures are irritated, your brain can experience it as a headache.

This is called cervicogenic headache: headache arising from the neck. It's commonly mistaken for migraine or tension headache, and it's often missed.

How to spot it: it's typically one-sided, it's linked to neck movement or sustained postures, and your neck is usually stiff and tender at the time.

How I can help

I treat headache arising from the neck (cervicogenic headache), by assessing and treating the neck structures involved.

Chiropractic care can also be used for migraine prevention, reducing how often migraines happen, rather than treating an attack once it's started.

What treatment looks like

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Two things worth knowing

Painkillers can cause headaches. If you're taking painkillers for headaches on most days of the week, they can start to cause the very headaches you're treating. It's called medication overuse headache and it's common, under-recognised, and easy to miss. Speak to your GP or pharmacist before stopping anything; it needs doing properly.

Your jaw might be involved. Clenching and grinding, especially overnight or under stress, loads the jaw and neck heavily. It's a frequent contributor to headaches and worth mentioning if it sounds like you.

What happens at your first appointment

The most useful thing I do is work out what kind of headache you're actually getting. I'll take a detailed history, covering where it starts, what sets it off, what it feels like and how often, and I'll examine your neck.

If it's a headache I can help with, I'll tell you. If it isn't, I'll tell you that too, and where to go instead.

When I'm not the right person

What you can do right now

• Keep a simple diary, date, time, what you were doing, how long it lasted. This is genuinely the most useful thing you can bring to an appointment.
• Drink water and eat regularly. Dull, but a real trigger for many people.
• Break up screen time. Look at something distant for 20 seconds every 20 minutes.