Headaches are extremely common in today’s society, and while you may consider them a normal part of life, they don’t need to be. Infact, they are a sign your brain has reduced oxygen supply. Cervicogenic headaches are the most common form of headache.

 

What Is a Cervicogenic Headache?

A cervicogenic headache is head pain that originates in your neck – not your head. The word “cervicogenic” itself tells the story: cervico refers to the cervical spine (your neck), and genic means “caused by.” So while you feel the pain in your head, the true source of the problem lies in the bones, joints, nerves, or soft tissues of your neck.

This is what’s known as referred pain, where your body feels pain in a location different from where the problem actually exists. It’s the same principle as how a heart attack can cause pain in the left arm. With cervicogenic headaches, dysfunction in your cervical spine triggers pain signals that travel up into your head.

It’s important to note that not every headache associated with neck stiffness or tension is a cervicogenic headache. Many headache types, including migraines and tension headaches, can involve neck discomfort as a secondary symptom.

 

What Is the Cause?

Headaches can come on after trauma, but are more commonly the result of years of poor posture. A human head weighs approximately 5 kg and when the head is forward that weight increases exponentially the forces in our neck and its joints.

Over time, forces on the neck squash the synovial fluid (joint lubricant) out of the joints of the cervical spine. Eventually the fluid in the joints decrease to a point where the joints can scratch together (this causes neck pain). Your body responds by tightening up the muscles over the joints to limit joint movement thereby limiting the scratching within the joints. Because a tight muscle is thicker than a loose muscle, extra pressure gets placed on the blood vessels taking oxygen to your brain.

Like squashing a hose this restricts the blood flow with oxygen to the brain and that’s what a cervicogenic headache is.

 

Symptoms Of Cervicogenic Headaches

The pain pattern of a cervicogenic headache is fairly distinctive once you know what to look for. Common symptoms include

  • One-sided head pain: often beginning at the base of the skull and radiating up one side of the head toward the front or behind the eye.
  • Neck stiffness and reduced range of motion: your headache may worsen with certain neck movements or when pressure is applied to specific spots on your neck.
  • Pain that worsens with sustained postures: such as sitting at a desk or looking at a phone for extended periods
  • A dull, non-throbbing ache rather than the pulsating quality often associated with migraines.

Unlike migraines, cervicogenic headaches generally do not cause light sensitivity, sound sensitivity, nausea, or vomiting. This distinction is important for getting the right treatment.

 

The Difference Between Cervicogenic Headaches and Migraines

Because both conditions can cause one-sided head pain, cervicogenic headaches and migraines are frequently confused and that confusion can lead to years of ineffective treatment. Understanding the key differences helps you get the right care sooner.

A migraine is a primary headache disorder, meaning the headache itself is the condition. It typically involves a throbbing or pulsating pain, often accompanied by sensitivity to light and sound, nausea, vomiting, or visual disturbances known as aura.

A cervicogenic headache, by contrast, is a secondary headache, a symptom of an underlying problem in your neck. With some distinguishing features compared to migraines.

  • Pain that is triggered or worsened by neck movement or pressure on specific points in the neck or base of the skull
  • No light or sound sensitivity, nausea, or vomiting
  • No aura
  • A dull, steady ache rather than a throbbing pain
  • Reduced neck mobility alongside the headache
  • Pain that is consistently one-sided and does not switch sides

 

Who Is Most at Risk?

While cervicogenic headaches can affect anyone, certain groups are more vulnerable. Office workers and people who spend long hours at a desk or looking at screens are among the most commonly affected, as sustained forward head posture places chronic stress on the upper cervical spine.

Women between the ages of 30 and 50 are disproportionately affected, with research indicating cervicogenic headaches are more prevalent in this group.

People in physically demanding occupations involving repetitive neck movement, or those who sleep without adequate head and neck support, round out the higher-risk population.

 

Treating Cervicogenic Headaches With Chiropractic Care

Our treatment process aims to restore the synovial fluid back into the affected joints to stop them scratching allowing the joint surfaces to heal.

As the fluid increases, friction within the joint reduces thus reducing the pain. As this process continues and more fluid is restored to the joints, the muscles are no longer required to protect and therefore relax, returning to their normal resting state. A resting muscle is thinner and therefore no longer restricts the flow of oxygenated blood to the brain

 

The Treatment Process

We treat these headaches with three phases which;

  1. Reduce pain by reducing friction and irritation that’s causing your symptoms.
  2. Enable healing as friction within the joint reduces, the muscles surrounding the joints can begin to relax.
  3. Improve posture Addressing the initial cause of the Cervicogenic Headaches.

In conjunction, our treatment will equip you with advice and some simple tools to prevent Cervicogenic Headaches recurrence.

 

Ready to Find Relief?

I always tell my patients that a normal amount of headaches is zero.  A lot of them are surprised to hear this, as all their life until they see us, they’ve been using painkillers to decrease the symptoms. I challenge patients to read their box of painkillers and anti-inflammatory medications and find where it says “fixes”… it never does.  Because we treat the cause, the headaches disappear.

If you’ve been living with persistent headaches, especially ones that seem to start at the back of your neck or follow long periods at a desk, your cervical spine may be the key to understanding why.

Rather than simply managing your symptoms, we work to identify and correct the root cause, restoring proper joint function, relieving muscular tension, and setting you up with the tools to stay headache-free long term.

Book a consultation with one of our chiropractors to get started with your treatment.