Dr. Chung
The Anatomy of a Headache
Headaches come in different shapes and sizes and may have different anatomical triggers
The brain cannot generate pain. Head pain must come from a source outside the brain
Common sources of head pain
How head and neck positioning can help Not all headaches are created equal. Part of being a doctor that sees patients of all shapes and sizes, we have to become familiar with the different types. Here's a short list of the most common types:
Tension headache
Migraine headache
Sinus headache
Hypertensive headache
Cluster headache
Post-traumatic headache
Cervicogenic headache It can be a challenge for a doctor to identify the type of headache you have because while these headaches have distinct characteristics, most of them overlap and make the clinical picture very gray. In some part, the type of headache you are having is determined by the anatomy that is generating the pain signal. Although the pain of a headache can make it feel like your brain is going to explode, there are actually zero pain generating tissues within the brain itself. That means that something outside of the brain is transmitting a signal to the brain that something has gone wrong. I won't go into some some of the more serious secondary causes of headache like tumors, strokes, etc, this will be more focused on primary headache.