5 Types of Headaches
Almost everyone has experienced a headache at least once in their lives but what headache do you have? There are plenty causes of headaches and many different types. Here are the top 5 types of headaches.
- Tension headache
A tension headache feels like a tight “vice-like” pressure around your head. They are the most common type of headache and can be triggered by stress, fatigue or muscular tension involving the shoulder, neck and jaw. Tension headaches can be felt from 20 minutes up to 2 hours.
- Sinus headache
Mostly felt across the bridge of your nose, behind your eyes, along your forehead or cheek bones and can be associated with a post nasal drip or congestion. Sinus headaches are mostly seasonal and described as a tight pressure. Exercise or leaning forward might make it worse.
- Migraine
One of the more severe types of headaches that can last hours to a few days. Migraine headaches can be felt as a deep throbbing, drilling pain, either at the base of your head, behind your eyes or on your temples. They are usually felt on one side but can shift between sides and can be associated with an aura, nausea, loss of appetite, smell sensitivity and vomiting.
- Cluster headache
Cluster headaches are severe headaches, like a migraine in intensity but it affects one side or shift to the opposite side. A cluster headache can last a few minutes to hours and then resolve itself only to repeat itself several times in the day or a week. Cluster headaches are made worse by lying down and are normally associated with drooping of your eyelid, watering of your eye and nasal congestion on the side of the headache.
- Mixed tension/migraine headache
This headache features both tension type and migraine symptoms in one headache. The headache presents like a migraine where you experience light sensitivity, nausea and an aura etc combined with tension headache symptoms, a tight squeeze, “vice-like” pressure. There may be muscular tension associated.
The trick in treating headaches is to be able to identify the triggers that cause them and treat them before the onset.
Chiropractic care is helpful in treating headaches by releasing any musculoskeletal pressure, removing tension from the upper back, neck and head.
