Most people don’t think of an orthopedic clinic when their head hurts. They think of their regular doctor, or the bottle of ibuprofen in the kitchen drawer. But plenty of the headaches we see in Sun Lakes start lower down. You spend the morning hunched over a book or the iPad, play a few games of pickleball, and by mid-afternoon there’s a dull ache at the base of your skull that slowly works its way up and over your head. Pills take the edge off for a few hours. Then it’s back the next day.
How the Neck Causes Head Pain
Here’s the odd part. The top few joints of your neck are wired into the same nerve system that handles feeling in the back of your scalp. If those joints get stuck, or the little muscles under your skull stay clenched all day, your brain has a hard time telling where the trouble really is, and it calls it a headache. Doctors have a name for it, a cervicogenic headache. We see it a lot in people who read with their chin tucked down, people with some arthritis in the neck, and anyone who got rear-ended years ago and never quite felt right after.
Signs Your Headache Might Be Coming From Your Neck
Plenty of headaches have nothing to do with the neck. When it is the neck, though, people tend to say the same kinds of things:
- It’s always the left side, or always the right. It hardly ever switches.
- It feels like it starts right where your skull meets your neck, then creeps up toward your eye.
- Looking over your shoulder to back the golf cart out sets it off.
- When we press on a certain spot below the skull, people say, “Yep, that’s my headache.”
- A long afternoon with a book, or the drive up to see the grandkids, usually brings it on.
A few kinds of headache are an emergency. If it’s the worst one you’ve ever had, or it comes with confusion, a weak arm or leg, slurred speech, or a stiff neck and a fever, skip the clinic and call 911.
What We Look At
We’ll ask when the headaches happen, how long they last, and what you’ve tried. Then we’ll check how your neck turns and tilts and press along the joints and muscles at the top of the spine. We also look at your upper back and shoulders, since tight muscles there pull on the neck all day. If something doesn’t add up, we may suggest imaging or a visit with your doctor.
Care That Lasts
Most of the time we start with physical therapy. The therapist works by hand on the stiff joints just under your skull, and on those knotted muscles you can feel when you rub the back of your neck. After that, you’ll learn a few simple moves. Chin tucks are a big one, where you slide your head straight back like you’re making a double chin. We also add squeezes for the muscles between your shoulder blades, so holding your head up all day stops being such a strain. We’ll talk about your reading chair, your pillow, and where you set your phone or tablet, because small changes there add up.
For some people, an injection can help break a stubborn pattern. A nerve block at the back of the head, or an injection into a tight muscle, can quiet the pain enough to make the rest of the plan easier. We’ll go over whether that makes sense for you.
If headaches keep cutting into your days, schedule a visit with Modern Medicine of Sun Lakes, AZ. We’ll find out whether your neck is behind them and help you get lasting relief.
