Cervicogenic Headache - a common cause of pain in the side of the headCervicogenic Headache is a common cause of one-sided or unilateral headaches. About 4% of adults may experience this type of headache in any given year. The reason for this headache is "wear and tear" of the joints in the upper part of the neck, just below the base of the skull. These joints are called facet joints or zygo-apophyseal joints, and include a joint called the lateral atlanto-axial joint. Nerves from these joints travel into the brain where they join up, or merge, with nerves from the main nerve to the head and face, called the trigeminal nerve. Because the nerves from the upper part of the neck join up with nerves from the head and face, you brain cannot tell the difference between pain in the neck and pain in the head. This means that arthritic-type problems in the upper part of neck can produce a symptom of pain in the back of head, side of the head or even pain above one eye. This is called referred pain. Studies of joints of the upper spine have proven that pain in the forehead, side of head and back of head can all be caused by disease of the facet joints.
What Does a Neck-Related Headache Feel Like?The first thing to know is that this pain is one-sided in the majority of cases. It occurs on the same side as the diseased joint.The pain can feel like a sharp pain, dull ache or even a shooting pain. Often the pain will come on quite suddenly, and persist for days ata time. It can be worse after lying down - many of patients will report that the headache in the back of the head is awful when they waken in the morning. People with headache coming from the neck do not normally feel nauseated or feel annoyed by light or noise. This is quite different to how people experience Unlike Migraine Symptoms Cervicogenic Headache can be treated with anti-inflammatories, physiotherapy. In more severe cases, occipital nerve block or facet joint neurolysis can be performed - often to very good effect. Occipital nerve block, as a treatment for neck-related headache, is usually a temporary measure lasting only a matter of week at a time - but can be very effective for short periods of time.
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