Headaches, neck
& jaw pain

Acute neck pain most commonly is due to torticollis or “wry neck”, which means a side bending or head tilt of the neck.  It is generally due to an muscle spasm protecting the affected neck joints. The patient generally wakes with the problem, predominantly from sleeping awkwardly, or can develop slowly over 1-2 hours after an injury to the neck.

Symptoms

The pain is usually confined to the neck, but it may also radiate down the arm or the upper back, resulting in a loss of normal range of motion in the neck.  This often occurs around the joints in the middle of the neck.

How can an Osteopath help?

Osteopaths see a lot of patients with acute injuries, and torticollis is no exception.  Patients are usually in a lot of pain due to the acute inflammation in the neck joints and muscle spasm in the neck and upper back muscles.  Your Osteopath can help by reducing the muscle spasm in the area by mobilising the affected joints.  They can also help by stretching the neck muscles to increase range of motion in your neck.  Depending on the severity of the injury, it may take a few treatments to settle the muscle spasm and regain your normal range of movement and normal head posture.

Neck related or “Cervicogenic” headache is a relatively common and surprisingly controversial form of headache arising from structures in the neck. Osteopaths believe that the upper neck complex frequently plays a role in common headaches and migraines.

Statistics show that 2-3 of 1000 headaches are caused by a serious disorder. Therefore, before a headache is classified as “common”, a detailed and thorough case history and physical examination of the patient are taken by the Osteopath. If there is still any doubt, a referral to other healthcare providers is sought.

Many people believe stress or psychological factors can set off headaches. Often if the psychological factors are frequent in common headaches, they are perhaps the icing on the cake to push that person over the threshold and trigger a headache. The primary or real cause of the headache is often neck related.

The actual primary joint problem can trigger intermittent spasm and inflammation which can the account for the transient nature of the headache. It will literally come and go according to how that whole upper neck environment is coping. If it’s not coping, many secondary symptoms can occur such as headaches. 

So if you have had headaches for a long time and if taking medication is having little or temporary effect, then let your Osteopath try to treat the actual primary problem and give long term relief to increase your quality of life.

Symptoms of Temporomandibular Joint (TMJ) dysfunction:

• pain in the facial or jaw muscles

• localised pain when chewing, talking or yawning

• earache, tinnitus or hearing loss

• grating, clicking or popping sounds on movement

• the jaw moves to one side in the process of opening

• the jaw locks open or closed

• headaches

• neck or back pain

Diagnosing TMJ dysfunction is not always straightforward. Problems may affect bones, ligaments, muscles or teeth. Diagnosis by an Osteopath requires a thorough case history which may include trauma, dental work, gum chewing, clenching or grinding teeth, stress, psychological makeup and postural habits. The entire person must be taken into consideration during the physical examination to rule out any organic causes. Patients may have seen many other health professionals before consulting an Osteopath for this type of pain. Osteopaths will seek out the root cause rather than just treat the symptoms.