This site is intended for healthcare professionals

Sign in
Go to /sign-in page

You can view 5 more pages before signing in

Mechanisms of headache

Last reviewed dd mmm yyyy. Last edited dd mmm yyyy

Authoring team

The physiological mechanisms that produce the subjective sensation of headache include:

  • skeletal muscle contraction e.g. tension headache
  • arterial dilatation:
    • extracranial, as in migraine
    • intracranial, as in nitrate vasodilators, hypertension, systemic infections
  • traction on arteries:
    • raised intracranial pressure
    • tumour
    • haemorrhage

  • traction or dilatation of venous sinuses, for example post-lumbar puncture headache

  • inflammation
    • extracranial, for example temporal cell arteritis
    • intracranial, for example meningitis

  • referred pain, for example disease of ears, sinuses, eyes, cervical spine - ankylosing spondylitis

  • psychogenic

MaassenVanDenBrink A, Ibrahimi K, Edvinsson L. Intracranial and extracranial arteries in migraine. Lancet Neurol 2013; 12: 847–848.

Related pages

Create an account to add page annotations

Create a free account

Annotations allow you to add information to this page that would be handy to have on hand during a consultation. E.g. a website or number. This information will always show when you visit this page.

The content herein is provided for informational purposes and does not replace the need to apply professional clinical judgement when diagnosing or treating any medical condition. A licensed medical practitioner should be consulted for diagnosis and treatment of any and all medical conditions.

Connect

Copyright 2024 Oxbridge Solutions Limited, a subsidiary of OmniaMed Communications Limited. All rights reserved. Any distribution or duplication of the information contained herein is strictly prohibited. Oxbridge Solutions receives funding from advertising but maintains editorial independence.