Cervical Joint Lesions: Implications in Post-Trauma Headache Pain

Headache pain can significantly reduce the quality of life for the person who suffers from it. When the headache pain is in direct response to a traumatic event, or injury, the complications of headache pain may be a side effect of a far more serious health complication.

If you recently suffered a traumatic injury, and you continue to experience headache pain, the pain may be associated with the development of cervical joint complications. When trauma occurs at the cervical region, in many cases, the complication is related to the development of lesions along the cervical joints, including the areas along the occipital region, the lateral and medical axial joints, and the C2-C3 vertebrae and C7 to T1 vertebrae.

While normal neurological findings may be present, along with normal x-ray findings, an injury to the cervical region can result in the traumatic development of lesions that, ultimately, lead to chronic headache pain. When suffering from persistent, post-traumatic headaches, it is important to seek medical attention from a neurologist or pain management specialist who can diagnose the complication accurately.

Using controlled, anesthetic blocks, injections are strategically placed into the cervical joints to determine if pain can be alleviated. When pain dissipates following injection, the physician can deduce that particular joint is affected by lesion and is the culprit behind the headache pain. Because these injections are rather uncomfortable, your physician may limit the injections to one or two at a time until the joint complication is identified. However, in some cases, more than one joint may be of issue which, ultimately, may require additional injections to define all joints affected.