Treatment of headache and neck pain
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Headache is the most frequently registered symptom people experience throughout the course of their lives. Nearly 95% of people from all over the world have experienced a headache at some point. Headache is the leading cause of absence from work, resulting in huge annual economic losses, and is increasingly becoming a socially significant problem.
The causes of headache can be varied and of a different nature. As spine specialists, we study cervicogenic headache (originating from the neck). It is accompanied by neck pain and is usually unilateral (on one side of the head) and radiates to the eye.
More often, cervicogenic headaches are episodic (come and go), and to determine the severity of the problem we have to take into account how severe the episodes are and how often they occur per month/year.
How exactly can neck problems lead to headache?
Headache is typically associated with the upper part of neck. What is interesting about the first cervical vertebra (C1) is that in Anatomy it is called the Atlas (the name originates from Greek mythology and belongs to the titan Atlas, who held the Earth on his shoulders), and it similarly "holds" the skull.
Also in the upper part of neck is located an extremely important nucleus, whose role is to transmit information upwards to the central nervous system (CNS). In case of dysfunction, this information is distorted and headache may occur.
If you are having a headache at the time of the examination, we’ve got techniques to eliminate it (where the cause is neck).
If you are not having a headache now, we offer tests which are almost 90% reliable, by means of which we can diagnose whether the problem comes from the neck and we can help, or we need to refer you to another specialist.
The cervical spine is comprised of 7 cervical vertebrae, 8 pairs of nerve roots, numerous small stabilizing muscles and ligaments. Generally, spine has two main functions – to be mobile and stable at the same time so as to be able to protect the spinal cord from possible injuries. We can roughly divide the neck into an upper and lower cervical region, as the anatomy, function and problems in these two areas differ significantly. The vertebral arteries that supply blood to the brain pass through the upper one, and in case of pressure or irritation, the patient may have symptoms such as neck pain, headache, vertigo, dizziness, nausea, etc. Certainly, these symptoms may not be cervicogenic (originating from the neck), therefore what causing them can be determined after an examination by a therapist.
We have specialists in our team, who have serious experience and solid expertise acquired on the basis of training abroad in the most common symptom, namely headache (coming from the neck). Symptoms of neck pain coming from the bottom part of neck are usually associated with stiffness, limited range of motion and muscle spasm, whereas inflammation or nerve root compression are accompanied by pain, burning, tingling and numbness on the hands in certain areas (dermatomes).
Inadequate treatment can lead to serious consequences, such as feebleness and reduced sensitivity. We have made sure based on more than 10 years of experience, that manual therapy in combination with specific remedial exercises has the best and long-lasting effect. We are the only specialists from the city of Varna, holding a CMP (internationally recognized certificate in manual therapy). In case of neck pain and discomfort, do not hesitate to contact us! We will do our best to help you!
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