What Are Headaches?

Headaches are a pain response to inflammation or aggravation of nerves, joints or muscle tissue. Alternately, head pain may be caused by environmental toxins, nutritional deficiencies, food additives and hormonal imbalances. Although headaches “feel” like they are located inside your head and even you brain in some cases, headaches are rarely ever actually in your head. Headaches are usually due to muscular strain or abnormal contraction and nerve complications. In fact, the largest percentage of headaches are not caused by a problem with your head at all but rather an issue in your neck.

 

There are lots of sensitive structures in the neck that can cause head pain:

 

• Facet joints – There are many small joints called “facet joints” that help to stabilize and align your neck. If there is arthritis, injury or misalignment of these joints, headaches and migraines are a very common symptom.

 

• Discs in the neck – Problems with discs in the neck may also cause headache and migraine pain. Discs act as shock absorbers between the bones of your neck. If these discs move out of place, they can put pressure on the spinal cord or other nerves and cause headache pain and migraines.

 

• Nerves – Nerve injuries, especially those that cause nerves to stretch (like a whiplash) can cause severe and frequent headache pain. Sometimes the injury may have occurred a decade ago and the person does not even remember it. Unfortunately, your neck never forgets and the damage caused by the injury can get progressively worse over several years. Lots of cases of head pain and migraines are associated with previously forgotten injuries. (Note: this is also a major cause of arthritis in the neck causing headaches)

 

• Soft Tissues – There are soft tissues such as muscle, ligaments and encasings that can become inflamed and lead to headache pain. Inflammation of soft tissue in the neck is also a major cause of chronic headache pain and migraines.

 

To summarize, headaches are a response to an underlying condition in your body. It may be as simple as something you have been eating (and shouldn’t) or as serious as a structural condition within your neck. The best way to find out what causes your headache is to see a headache specialist. Dr. Cassaro is considered an expert in chronic pain management and the best headache doctor in the nation.

 

Taking The Next Step

 

If you are serious about getting permanent relief from your chronic headache pain, set up a consultation with Dr. Cassaro:

 

 

Dr. Cassaro is the top pain treatment expert in the country. If you have chronic pain, Painless Living can help. Dr. Cassaro will set up a consultation regarding neurostimulation and spinal cord stimulators (SCS). After a thorough review of your medical records and a thorough examination, it may be determined that you are a candidate for neurostimulation. Scheduling the procedure and recovery will be discussed and you will be on your way to living a pain-free life!