Senior Care Partners

Archive for January 8th, 2012

What is a cervicogenic headache?

This term refers to the syndrome that is characterized by the chronic hemicranial pain. This means the the bony & the soft tissues portions of the head including the stretch up to the neck.
What are the symptoms of cervicogenic headache?

While the doctors defined some peculiar symptoms of this pain, its primary stages, it is not easy to bifurcate between this sort of headache as against other headache disorders like migraine, hemicrania continua, tension type headache, etc.

Yet some of the common symptoms are as follows:

1. Neck pain
2. Cervical muscle tenderness
3. Arises from the bony structures or from the soft tissues of the neck.

Mention some details on the treatment of cervicogenic headache.

Primarily the medications listed in the pharmacologic treatment modalities for this ailment enlist the preventive and / or the palliative management for all tension-type headaches, migraine and the neuropathic pain syndromes.

Further the patients suffering with acute cervicogenic headache become tremendously dependent on the analgesics. Though the studies have proved that only medication is not enough to treat cervicogenic headache; another important fact is also that proper medication gives you quite substantial pain relief in majority of the cases.

Other important parts of the treatment include the following:

1. Physical therapy
2. Rehabilitation program

The various types of medications given to a patient suffering with this ailment are as follows:

1. Antidepressants
2. Antiepileptic Drugs
3. Analgesics
4. Muscle relaxants

Detail the physical & manual modes of therapy used to cure cervicogenic headache.

The effectiveness of these therapeutic exercises & the manipulative treatment among the patients of this ailment depends on the patients’ individual factors such as age, gender, headache chronic-ity, etc.

In terms of the osteopathic manipulative techniques used to cure this sort of pain (like craniosacral & strain-counter strain) and the muscle energy techniques are quite a good option to take up.

Migraine can be one of the most annoying and painful ailments to afflict anyone. People affected by migraine find it quite difficult to carry on with their regular tasks when migraine strikes. Getting a migraine headache cure is one of the most sought after solutions that patients need.

There is a school of thought, which says that migraines are caused due to some psychological reasons and should have cures that are psychological in nature. Apart from a physical condition or a dietary cause, many migraines are caused by anger, guilt and allergy (association). These are all negative and illness inducing emotions that are held responsible for triggering migraines. In all these cases, the treatment should focus on emotional healing as well as behavior and emotion modification.

In case of dietary causes, magnesium deficiency is one of the primary causes of migraines. This is caused by consuming diets high in protein as well as the consumption of alcohol, soft water, caffeine and diuretics. Getting too much of calcium and too less of magnesium may also cause migraines. The cure in such cases is to opt for medicines or supplements that are rich in magnesium.

In addition to the aforesaid factors, a lot of migraines are caused by stress and tension. In these instances, the patient should de-stress, practice yoga, meditate or take a break to relax and unwind as part of migraine headache cure.

So, try to find out the reasons that have caused the onset of a migraine and treat it accordingly to get relief from this nagging and painful ailment.