Headache - Cephalalgia

Headache is a condition which should not be ignored as there are several causes, some of which can be life threatening.

One of the more common causes can be biomechanical instability between the Atlanto-occipital joint in the upper cervical spine. The articulations of the Atlanto-occipital spinal connection are very close to the Greater Occipital Nerve, which supplies the back and sides of the head. If either the atlas or occipital bone are not in their proper position they can cause irritation to the greater occipital nerve labeled as 19 (see diagram), which the brain interprets as a headache.

Other than biomechanical instability, various other contributions to head pain could be:

• space occupying lesion in the head
• sinusitis
• eye fatigue
• hormonal imbalance

If the cause of the headache were found to be biomechanical in nature, then chiropractic treatment would consist of an adjustment along with other adjunctive procedures.