HEADACHES RESOURCE CENTRE

Headaches are one of the most common afflictions in life, with up to 90% of people reported to have suffered from headaches at some point in their lives.

Most headaches, other than being painful and bothersome, do not signify anything more serious. However, some types of headaches are signals of more serious conditions and require immediate medical attention.

A large community based study of headaches in Singapore (Ho KH, Ong BK. A community based study of headache diagnosis and prevalence in Singapore. Cephalalgia 2003 Feb;23(1):6-13) found that the overall lifetime prevalence of headaches in Singapore was 82.7%, and this did not vary between racial groups. The types of headaches were classified into: migraines (9.3%), episodic tension type headaches (39.9%), chronic tension type headaches (2.4%) and unclassified headaches(31.2%).

PATHOPHYSIOLOGY

As the brain itself does not have any pain receptors, the pain in headache is actually from several structures in the head and neck region. These include the scalp and neck muscles, meninges (brain lining), extra-cranial arteries, large veins, cranial and spinal nerves. Pain from sinuses, eyes and temporomandibular joint can also radiate to the head to cause headaches.

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