Head & Neck
Does this describe your pain?
- Headaches (tension headache, cluster headache, stress headache, migraines)
- TMJ or similar symptoms
- Head, neck and jaw pain when you try to read, work, or sit too long in one place
- Pain and stiffness, knots or “cricks” in neck and shoulder muscles
- Burning sensation, numbness or tingling in arms, hands or fingers
- Clicking or grinding noise when you move
- Dizziness when you stand up
- Sleep disturbance
Is your pain…
- Localized to one part of the head or neck, such as your jaw or temple
- Ongoing, only when you move, or seemingly at random
- Acute and debilitating, “gets in the way”, or “I can live with it, but…”
- Associated with a particular activity or location, such as working in the office, smoking, mowing the grass, drinking coffee, or lifting weights
What causes most head and neck pain?
Various underlying factors can sensitize you to pain, precede pain, or trigger pain:
- Anxiety and stress
- Environmental or dietary triggers like perfumes, caffeine, and smoking
- Traumatic injury, like a car accident
- Biomechanical stress from postural or skeletal misalignments or poor ergonomics in your working environment
- Overuse, misuse or aging-related musculoskeletal changes
- Chronic health conditions like rheumatoid arthritis, fibromyalgia, multiple sclerosis and circulatory problems
Which head and neck pain diagnoses are most common?
- Migraines, tension headaches and cluster headaches
- TMJ (temporomandibular) jaw pain
- Concussion and whiplash
- Repetitive stress injuries like “computer neck” and “text neck”
- Arthritic discs, degenerative discs, herniated discs, and bulging discs
- Pinched nerves
- Scoliosis
- Military neck
- Strained or sprained muscles and joints