Cervicogenic headache: an assessment of the evidence on clinical diagnosis, invasive tests, and treatment
Two articles on PainSci cite Bogduk 2009: 1. The Complete Guide to Chronic Tension Headaches 2. The Complete Guide to Neck Pain & Cricks
original abstract †Abstracts here may not perfectly match originals, for a variety of technical and practical reasons. Some abstacts are truncated for my purposes here, if they are particularly long-winded and unhelpful. I occasionally add clarifying notes. And I make some minor corrections.
Cervicogenic headache is characterised by pain referred to the head from the cervical spine. Although the International Headache Society recognises this type of headache as a distinct disorder, some clinicians remain sceptical. Laboratory and clinical studies have shown that pain from upper cervical joints and muscles can be referred to the head. Clinical diagnostic criteria have not proved valid, but a cervical source of pain can be established by use of fluoroscopically guided, controlled, diagnostic nerve blocks. In this Review, we outline the basic science and clinical evidence for cervicogenic headache and indicate how opposing approaches to its definition and diagnosis affect the evidence for its clinical management. We provide recommendations that enable a pragmatic approach to the diagnosis and management of probable cervicogenic headache, as well as a rigorous approach to the diagnosis and management of definite cervical headache.
related content
- “International Headache Society headache diagnostic patterns in pain facility patients,” D A Fishbain, R Cutler, B Cole, H L Rosomoff, and R S Rosomoff, The Clinical Journal of Pain, 2001.
- “Prevalence of cervicogenic headache: Vågå study of headache epidemiology,” O Sjaastad and L S Bakketeig, Acta Neurol Scand, 2008.
- “Cervicogenic headache: evidence that the neck is a pain generator,” Werner J Becker, Headache, 2010.
- “Cervicogenic headache: the neck is a generator: con,” Maurice B Vincent, Headache, 2010.
- “The neck and headaches,” Nikolai Bogduk, Neurol Clin, 2014.
This page is part of the PainScience BIBLIOGRAPHY, which contains plain language summaries of thousands of scientific papers & others sources. It’s like a highly specialized blog. A few highlights:
- Relationships Between Sleep Quality and Pain-Related Factors for People with Chronic Low Back Pain: Tests of Reciprocal and Time of Day Effects. Gerhart 2017 Ann Behav Med.
- Modulation in the elastic properties of gastrocnemius muscle heads in individuals with plantar fasciitis and its relationship with pain. Zhou 2020 Sci Rep.
- Association Between Plantar Fasciitis and Isolated Gastrocnemius Tightness. Nakale 2018 Foot Ankle Int.
- A Bayesian model-averaged meta-analysis of the power pose effect with informed and default priors: the case of felt power. Gronau 2017 Comprehensive Results in Social Psychology.
- The neck and headaches. Bogduk 2014 Neurol Clin.