The National Institutes of Health defines a headache as pain or discomfort in your head, scalp or neck. I’d expand this definition a bit to include the face and jaw as well. Headaches come in several forms. Sometimes it’s just a general tension headache that can be due to constricted muscles or blood flow in your head and neck. It can be caused by stress, or a poor sleep position. It’s usually a dull pain, or feels like your head is being squeezed.

Other headaches, like cluster or migraine headaches are more serious. Migraines are severe headaches that usually are accompanied by nausea or a sensitivity to light. Cluster headaches are very sharp and painful and appear for a month or two, then go away and come back.

Sometimes headaches are a syndrome by themselves. But very often, they’re a symptom of something else and the true cause of the pain in your head could be problems in your jaw, specifically, the temporomandibular joint, or TMJ.

The area of your face, head and neck has many, many veins, arteries and capillaries. Even a small cut in your scalp can bleed profusely. There also hundreds of nerves in this area – it’s why the softest touch or kiss can register intense sensation.

So imagine when a joint that connects to all these systems – blood, nerve and musculoskeletal – is not aligned properly. The result is pain in many forms – stiffness, aching or sharp.

How Headaches Start | Headache Symptoms | Evaluation | Headaches in Children