Jeff LangmaidFounder, The Evidence Based Chiropractor

Cracking the Cervicogenic Headache Code: 20% of Headaches Explained!

27 Apr 2024 · 1 min

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Jeff Langmaid (YouTube) explains cervicogenic headaches, stating they account for about 20% of headache types. He describes the clinical feature of pain worsened by head/neck movement and presents the most accepted mechanism as convergence between the trigeminal nerve and C1–C3 (the trigeminocervical nucleus). He lists contributing musculoskeletal factors (vertebral, disc, paravertebral muscle problems) as potential causes.

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Headaches, of course, as we know, one of the top three reasons people initially visit a chiropractor. Now a cervicogenic headache, of course, is a distinct type of headache and accounts for about 20% of all the different headache types. So why does this happen? Well, there's a few theories in terms of the causative factors for these types of headaches. When it's cervicogenic, as you can imagine, there is pain worsened by movement of the head and neck. How does this happen? The most accepted mechanism, as they highlight, is F found between the trigeminal nerve and the C1 through C3 nerves in the trigeminal cervical nucleus. And how does this happen? Well, it can kind of be a combination of things. They believe there is musculoskeletal issues such as vertebral issues, disc issues, paravertebral muscle challenges, imbalances, however you want to define that. And all of this can contribute to the unique clinical feature of a cervicogenic headache.