What is cervicogenic headache?

  Cervicogenic headache is a syndrome of chronic, unilateral head pain caused by organic or functional lesions of the cervical spine or soft tissues of the neck. According to statistics, 70%-80% of headache patients are cervicogenic headaches, and 65% of cervicogenic headaches are migraine headaches, and they are more common in women. The causes of cervicogenic headache are related to prolonged head-down work and mental tension. The pathogenesis is not yet uniform, but more studies suggest that it is related to atlantoaxial joint instability and injury, inflammation and spasm of the cervical and occipital muscles. Many patients are misdiagnosed as migraine, or take oral NSAIDs and suffer from headache for a long time, and we have met patients with headache for more than 20 years in our clinic.  Cervicogenic headache is different from headache caused by other causes, and its main manifestations are: unilateral or bilateral occipital, postauricular dullness or soreness, which can spread to forehead, temporal, top, neck or upper limbs, and even face, often accompanied by dizziness, nausea and vomiting, tinnitus, eye swelling, and altered sense of smell and taste. In addition to conventional X-ray, diagnostic nerve block is also one of the keys to confirm the diagnosis of this disease.  Minimally invasive radiofrequency intervention is effective for various cervical spondylosis, but also for patients with various neuralgia such as postherpetic neuralgia, facial palsy and facial muscle spasm.