There are many different types of headaches and each type has different causes. One type of headaches is called cervicogenic headaches. Cervicogenic headache starts with cervical spine dysfunction and this dysfunction starts from an early age. It is important that the body holds the head in a proper place so that it can move and function normally. However, with the culture of childhood education where children are sitting most of the time, today’s work environment where sitting for many hours are the norm and modern lifestyle where using our smartphones and devices are ubiquetous, changes in our posture occurs. This changes in posture causes muscle tone imbalance in the shoulder area which supports the head. Over time, this imbalance causes tensions throughout the neck area causing spasms and trigger points to form in the muscles. For example, occipital headaches (pain at the base of our skull) is caused by forward leaning head position often experienced in jobs where you are mostly typing and looking forward toward a computer screen. This position is held repetitively over hours, days, months and years and at some point, symptoms manifest.
Typical therapy regime for occipital headache as part of the neck pain syndrome includes chiropractic adjustments, intermittent mechanical traction along with physical therapy procedures that act primarily as an analgesic (lasers, TENS). Number of treatments depends on the degree of dysfunction and severity of symptoms present in the patient.