Occipital Neuralgia – What is it?

/74 Comments/in , , /by

occipital-neuralgia head and neck pain nerve blockHead and neck pain could be caused by occipital neuralgia, a non-fatal condition that involves nerve irritation or injury from a variety of causes. The prefix ‘neuro’ means nerve and ‘algia’ means pain, while ‘occipital’ describes a region of the head running from the spinal column in the neck up to the scalp at the back of the head.

There are numerous possible causes of this kind of spreading neck pain and headache resulting from injury or compression of the greater and lesser occipital nerves.


Symptoms of Occipital Neuralgia
Headaches and neck pain can simple be related to strained muscles in the neck, but where the headache involves a piercing or throbbing pain, or a pain that feels like an electric shock up the back of the neck and head, behind the ears and typically on just one side, this makes it likely to be occipital neuralgia. Pain may also occur behind the eyes, in the forehead and scalp, having spread from the neck. The pain of occipital neuralgia is often accompanied by tenderness and light-sensitivity as the occipital nerves are hypersenstive to stimuli.

Causes of Occipital Neuralgia
Causes of occipital neuralgia can include mechanical trauma to the back of the head and neck, cervical spinal stenosis resulting from degenerative spinal changes in the neck, and nerve compression from tight muscles, bone spurs, spinal tumors, lesions, or other issues that put pressure on the nerves. In addition to a physical source of compression that might require neck surgery to address, occipital neuralgia may result from inflammation or infection in the are of the occipital nerves, as well as conditions such as gout and diabetes.


Occipital neuralgia may also occur as a result of vasculitis, a condition where the blood vessels are inflamed. Keeping the head down and forward for long periods of time can also lead to occipital neuralgia.

Treatment of Occpital Neuralgia
Treatment for this condition typically involves identifying the cause of the nerve pain and removing the stressor. This may mean paying more attention to posture, treating an infection, or undergoing neck surgery to relieve nerve compression due to bone spurs from osteoarthritis or other condition.

Eating a well-balanced diet, staying hydrated, and quitting smoking, are also good ways to help address head and neck pain from occipital neuralgia. This means adopting a predominantly plant-based anti-inflammatory diet including plenty of vegetables, fruits, nuts, seeds, and healthy whole grains, while avoiding simple sugars and refined carbohydrates, and trans and hydrogenated fats that can increase inflammation.

For most people, rest and neck massage is sufficient to relieve neck and head pain from occipital neuralgia. For others, especially where pain is severe, treatment with antidepressants or injections of steroids or nerve blocks can help. If nerve blocks lead to relief this is confirmation of occipital neuralgia. Natural anti-inflammatories may also help lessen symptoms during recovery.

Prognosis for Occipital Neuralgia
Most people with occipital neuralgia have a full recovery and require no long term treatment. The condition often simply subsides with the application of warm compresses, rest, anti-inflammatory medications, and muscle relaxants, especially where tight muscles in the neck are triggering or exacerbating the problem. Headaches and neck pain can also be a sign of more serious illness however, and anyone experiencing severe or persistent pain should seek medical attention to rule out spinal cancer and spinal cord impingement, meningitis, and other potentially fatal conditions.

You might also like
Laser Therapy for Neck Pain
Thyroid Disease and Neck Pain
Cervical Brachial Neuritis - A Rare Cause of Neck and Shoulder Pain
Neck Pain and Nausea - Signs of Flu?
Causes of Neck and Shoulder Pain
How the Spine Narrows Naturally with Age
Fibromyalgia Relief with Resistance Training and Aerobic Exercise
How to Avoid Age-Related Neck Pain
74 replies
  14. http://tinyurl.com/2545tlak
    http://tinyurl.com/2545tlak says:

    You are so interesting! I don’t believe I’ve read something like this before.

    So great to find somebody with a few unique thoughts on this subject.
    Seriously.. thanks for starting this up. This web site is something that
    is needed on the web, someone with a bit of originality!

    Reply
  15. Paris Doerfler
    Paris Doerfler says:

    Hi there! Someone in my Facebook group shared this site with us so I came to check it out. I’m definitely loving the information. I’m book-marking and will be tweeting this to my followers! Exceptional blog and brilliant design and style.|

    Reply
  16. Judson Ramlall
    Judson Ramlall says:

    hey there and thank you for your info – I’ve certainly picked up something new from right here. I did however expertise several technical issues using this site, since I experienced to reload the web site lots of times previous to I could get it to load correctly. I had been wondering if your hosting is OK? Not that I am complaining, but sluggish loading instances times will very frequently affect your placement in google and could damage your high-quality score if ads and marketing with Adwords. Anyway I’m adding this RSS to my email and can look out for a lot more of your respective intriguing content. Ensure that you update this again very soon.|

    Reply
  22. Ardelle Eloy
    Ardelle Eloy says:

    Definitely believe that which you stated. Your favorite reason appeared to be on the web the easiest thing to be aware of. I say to you, I certainly get irked while people think about worries that they just don’t know about. You managed to hit the nail upon the top and also defined out the whole thing without having side effect , people could take a signal. Will likely be back to get more. Thanks|

    Reply
  30. Grover Cappelli
    Grover Cappelli says:

    Hey there! Someone in my Facebook group shared this website with us so I came to check it out. I’m definitely enjoying the information. I’m book-marking and will be tweeting this to my followers! Outstanding blog and superb design and style.|

    Reply
  34. Howard Kracker
    Howard Kracker says:

    Hey! I know this is kinda off topic however I’d figured I’d ask. Would you be interested in trading links or maybe guest writing a blog article or vice-versa? My site addresses a lot of the same subjects as yours and I believe we could greatly benefit from each other. If you might be interested feel free to send me an e-mail. I look forward to hearing from you! Great blog by the way!|

    Reply
  52. Audrea Kloeck
    Audrea Kloeck says:

    Hey! I know this is kind of off topic but I was wondering if you knew where I could find a captcha plugin for my comment form? I’m using the same blog platform as yours and I’m having problems finding one? Thanks a lot!|

    Reply
  58. Ignacio Borgerding
    Ignacio Borgerding says:

    Appreciating the time and effort you put into your website and detailed information you provide. It’s nice to come across a blog every once in a while that isn’t the same unwanted rehashed information. Fantastic read! I’ve bookmarked your site and I’m adding your RSS feeds to my Google account.|

    Reply
  68. help refuges
    help refuges says:

    Thank you a bunch for sharing this with all people you really recognise what you are talking approximately!
    Bookmarked. Please additionally seek advice from my web site
    =). We may have a link trade arrangement among us help refuges

    Reply
  69. zorivare worilon
    zorivare worilon says:

    Hi, just required you to know I he added your site to my Google bookmarks due to your layout. But seriously, I believe your internet site has 1 in the freshest theme I??ve came across. It extremely helps make reading your blog significantly easier.

    Reply

Leave a Reply

Want to join the discussion?
Feel free to contribute!

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published.