Cervicogenic Headaches - A pain in the Neck

What is a “Cervicogenic Headache”? That’s a mouthful and up until recently there had been a lot of confusion and even debate amongst researchers as to how to define and classify them. The most recent International Classification of Headache Disorders (ICHD-3) defines them as a “Headache caused by a disorder of the cervical spine and its component bony, disc and/or soft tissue elements, usually but not invariably accompanied by neck pain.” While there are other types of headaches that may be related to problems in the neck, this is one of the headache types that chiropractors treat on a daily basis. Indeed, since the COVID-19 pandemic started and lockdowns have people working from home, I have seen this type of headache increasing in frequency since the strain on my patient’s necks has been tremendous due to what I believe is a lot of staring at screens stress and muscle tension and quite frankly not a lot of movement. A very recent study published in Pain Medicine concluded that in 62% of their study’s population, cervicogenic headache pain could be linked to the upper neck (noteably the C2/C3 joints). While this may not seem like much, it does give chiropractors and other manual therapists good direction on the best ways to address this type of headache. While as usual more research is needed, chiropractors evaluate and treat many types of headaches and migraines. According to the Canadian Chiropractic Association “Evidence has demonstrated that chiropractic care, including spinal manipulative therapy, can be an effective treatment for cervicogenic and tension-type headaches. More so, studies have demonstrated that care offered by chiropractors can also decrease the intensity and frequency of migraines.”