Edit page | Page history | Printable version

Definition

noun, plural: headaches

Pain in the head region, often caused by dilation of cerebral blood vessels, traction of the meninges, muscle contraction, and organic diseases

Supplement

Headaches are commonly felt in the following conditions:

• pregnancy
• illness or disease
• hunger
• head injury and trauma
• stress
• lack of sleep
• eyestrain

Headaches do not occur in brain tissues since they lack nociceptors or pain-receptors. Rather, they occur in structures situated intra- and extracranially, where nociceptors are present.

There are various types of headaches. Basically, they may be vascular (blood vessel-related), cervicogenic (muscle tension), or organic (disease-related).

Headaches may also be primary headache or secondary headache.

Variant(s):

• head ache

Synonym(s):

• cephalea
• cephalalgia
• cerebralgia
• encephalalgia
• encephalodynia
• cephalodynia

See also:

• migraine

Related term(s):

• Vascular headache
• Muscle tension headache
• Sick headache
• Tension headache
• Hortons headache

Mentioned in:

• Sick
• Lassa fever