Do the different causes of headaches create pain in different parts of the skull?
Amanda Ellison, University of Durham, UK, and author of Splitting: The inside story on headaches
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Yes, is the short answer. The nuance lies in which type of headache you have. Migraine will often present in the same place. For headaches caused by sinus congestion, the location of the pain depends on which of the four sinus cavities are most affected.
Pain in your forehead indicates blockage of your frontal sinuses, located above the eyes. General headache with pain in the cheekbones and even toothache can point to a problem with your maxillary sinuses, which are under our eyes.
Inflammation of the sphenoid sinuses, located behind the eyes, leads to a more diffuse headache that can be felt in the front or the back of the skull.
A 鈥渟plitting鈥� headache with pain behind and between the eyes that radiates to the forehead occurs due to congestion in the ethmoid sinuses, which are found between the nose and eyes.
Tension or stress headaches are other common types. The location of the pain depends on which muscle group in the head and neck is sending signals that the brain interprets as pain. This kind of headache can result from poor posture or anxiety (as emotional stress has a physical effect), or a vicious circle involving both. This happens when adrenaline released by the body to help cope with stress causes throbbing pain due to over-dilation of the blood vessels in the brain.
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The type of pain experienced and its location can help unlock the mystery of why you got it, and allow you to take steps to fix it.
To answer this question 鈥� or ask a new one 鈥� email lastword@newscientist.com.
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