Low-headed people, please pay attention to cervicogenic headache

  Headache is one of the most common clinical diseases with many causes, such as migraine and tension pain, which are common in all kinds of people. The situation of “patients with headache and doctors with headache”.  With the advent of the Internet era, the popularity of smart phones and the emergence of low-headed people, a new kind of headache: cervicogenic headache is increasing day by day. The age of patients with cervicogenic headache is mostly between 20 and 60 years old, but young patients are not uncommon, the youngest patient I met in my work is only 7 years old, and this disease is more common in women.  The early stage of cervicogenic headache is mostly discomfort in the occipital area, behind the ear and below the ear, and later it turns into stuffiness or soreness, and pain gradually appears. The pain may extend to the forehead, both sides of the head, the top and the neck, and some patients may have pain in the ipsilateral shoulder and back and upper limbs at the same time, and the pain may be accompanied by tinnitus, ear swelling, eye stuffiness and neck stiffness. As the disease progresses, the pain gradually worsens and persists, and the remission period is shortened. The pain can be aggravated by cold, exertion and alcohol consumption. The pain can be relieved by oral analgesic medication, but it does not last long and the symptoms appear immediately after stopping the medication.  The incidence of cervicogenic headache is higher among office and desk-bound workers, especially cell phone users with low head, and those with longer duration of the disease have reduced work efficiency, concentration and memory, depression, irritability, irritability and fatigue, and the quality of life and work is significantly reduced. In the hospital, examination may reveal significant pressure pain below the ear, next to the cervical spine and behind the mastoid process. Those with longer disease duration may have posterior cervical, temporal, apical, and occipital pressure pains. In some patients, local pins and needles and the sense of touch are diminished; the sense of smell and taste are diminished on the affected side, but there are also patients without obvious signs. Cervical spine radiographs reveal degenerative changes in the cervical spine to varying degrees, and in some patients, cervical foraminal stenosis, hyperplasia of the anterior and posterior edges of the vertebral body, and calcification of the ligaments are seen.  With the development of pain science, pain specialists have developed a proven treatment plan specifically for these headache patients to break the mold. For patients with shorter duration and milder pain, the first step is to use traditional methods, i.e. rest, correct sleeping posture, reducing low head, using latex cervical spine health pillows, applying traditional Chinese medicine acupuncture, specialist physiotherapy with traction and magnetic heat therapy combined with oral anti-inflammatory and analgesic, muscle relaxation and herbal medicines. It is worth noting that the massage should be done carefully and must be confirmed by a professional tui-na doctor to prevent aggravation of the condition or even serious injury.  In the case of ineffective traditional methods, the unique nerve block therapy of the pain department can be used once a week, with anti-inflammatory and analgesic drugs or ozone gas injected directly into the cervical paraspinal and occipital nerves, etc. to play the role of anti-inflammatory, analgesic and promote the recovery of nerve function. The efficacy is better because the drug solution is injected directly into the lesion area. For those who do not have good results with nerve block injection, the lesions are mostly located in the spinal canal, and discogenic radiculitis is common. After the diagnosis is confirmed by cervical spine MRI, the cervical microcatheter can be embedded in the hospital and the epidural cavity can be continuously pumped for drug injection.  For severe intractable headache that is ineffective with conservative treatment, the pain department can also use minimally invasive radiofrequency therapy to selectively treat the nociceptive branches of the cervical nerve under CT or ultrasound guidance, so that the patient no longer has headache, in order to achieve permanent pain relief without affecting local sensory-motor function in any way. Thus, there are many treatment methods for cervicogenic headache in pain specialists, which do not require cervical spine surgery, have safety and speed, have little side effects, and treat different patients with different combined Chinese and Western medicine methods depending on the individual, completely relieving headache and returning patients to a relaxed life.