Cervicogenic Headache: Differential Diagnosis and Treatment
Cervicogenic headache is a secondary headache in which pain perceived in the head is in fact referred from a disorder of the cervical spine, most often the upper cervical segments.
Condition
Cervicogenic headache
Assessment and conservative management of cervicogenic headache.
ICD-10-CM: G44.86
A cervicogenic headache is a headache that actually starts in the neck, with pain often spreading from the base of the skull to one side of the head. It's commonly linked to stiff or irritated joints in the upper neck, and can be mistaken for other types of headache.
Physiotherapy is an effective treatment, using manual techniques and specific exercises to address the neck problem driving the pain. In this guide we cover assessment and evidence-based conservative management of cervicogenic headache — helping clinicians identify and treat the source, and helping patients understand why their headaches are coming from the neck.