In modern times, people have mutated their lifestyle. Everyone is engaged with their technological gadgets. By the continuous use of mobile phones and laptops often you feel the heavy head in the effect of neck pain and ultimately it becomes a root cause of brain fog.
In this debate the key concern is your bad POSTURE like you are sitting with a laptop a little lower, your neck is bent, and you are constantly working and you using a mobile phone with your neck bent. These postures can cause neck pain radiating to the head and triggering a headache along with brain fog.
The headache due to neck pain is called a cervicogenic headache and it is different from migraine. Cervical spine misalignment in the neck region can disrupt the function of the nervous system – transmission- and this condition leads to brain fog, and you feel faint and confused.
What is a cervicogenic headache?
Cervicogenic headache is a secondary type of headache – secondary headaches are the symptom of another condition. Cervicogenic headache has a prevalence of 0.17- 4% and as the name suggests it is a headache caused by a disorder involving the cervical spine and its spinal disc and it is usually, but not invariably, go with neck pain.
At least two of the following criteria have to apply while qualifying it as a cervicogenic headache
- Headache developed after the onset of the cervical disorder
- Headache ameliorates in parallel with improvement of the cervical disorder.
- Reduced cervical movement-based pain, suddenly worsened by provocative testing.
- Headache vanishes after a diagnostic blockade of the cervical structure or its nerve supply.
What is brain fog?
Brain fog is not a medical term or a medical condition. It is a commonly used term to describe symptoms like memory lapses, lapses in concentration, forgetfulness, short-term memory issues, and thinking difficulty thus prevent people from doing multi-tasking.
These days, many people suffer from conditions related to brain fog. It is normal if these symptoms happen to you once in a blue moon but if you go through them very frequently and causing disruption in your daily life then you need to consult a professional immediately.
The relation between neck pain and headache:
When you talk about neck pain and headache happening due to that pain, that headache would be termed as cervicogenic headache, and it is a very frequently used term and often people suffer from this.
The symptoms of cervicogenic headache are down below:
- It is generally mild to moderate
- This headache is often unilateral- meaning on one side of the head.
- It can usually start from the neck before traveling up and over into the head.
- The pain will mostly be focused around the neck first.
- There should also be a reduced range of motion of the neck – you may not be able to turn your head from side to side through its full range of motion.
- People with cervicogenic headaches commonly experience nausea and vomiting.
- Other symptoms include dizziness, tinnitus, difficulty in concentration, and also depression.
The causes of cervicogenic headache are many and you will see one by one down here:
- Usually, people may have an injury or dysfunction at the neck, it could be having a fall or car accident, or any kind of whiplash injuries can cause pain to be referred from the neck and into the head
- Most of the time cervicogenic headache sufferers have never experienced any trauma like this to the neck and in these cases, it is usually and more likely that the strain from adopting poor postures is the key contributor. For example, prolonged periods with your neck forwards like sitting in the chair using a computer having a poor posture will put excessive strain and stress on structures in your neck.
- The neck can also be incidentally strained from occupations such as looking up at the ceiling like a painter or looking at a computer or you may even have a hunched posture, rounded shoulders, and your head is always poked forwards
- Atlanta occipital joint which is the skull plus the first vertebrae in the neck, the Atlanta axial joint which is the first and second bone in the neck as well as C23 which is the second and third bone in the neck are the joints often responsible for cervicogenic headache.
The relation between neck pain and brain fog:
Cervical spine instability disturbs the blood flow to the brain and ultimately affects the nervous system while communicating. You feel the heavy head and fail to concentrate on the things. Dizziness is a common symptom of brain fog.
Causes of brain fog concerning neck pain are the following:
- Muscle strain: if you suffer an injury that causes stress in the neck muscles that will resultantly cause brain fog along with a heavy head. Sometimes while lifting something heavy, there might happen misalignment in your spines that will cause you dizziness and brain fog.
- Whiplash: it is a condition the disrupts the range of motion of your neck and you feel pain while moving your neck. The whiplash causes stiffness in the neck and thus makes you feel foggy and dizzy.
CONCLUSION
You can witness here that how one thing affects the functioning of other body parts. And I would say that is definitely due to our mutated lifestyle that is technology oriented. I would suggest that whenever you find spare time go for a walk for a few minutes for a stable body posture because that will serve you in the longer run.
Whenever our nervous system is affected, it will disturb the other aspects of the body and your nervous system is based on your spinal cord for communication. Whenever there is a problem in the upper cervical it causes headache and brain fog along with a heavy head the entire day. Just try to reconsider your lifestyle and an exercise or at least a few minutes’ walk will protect you from any such instability.
REFERENCES
How Common is Neck Pain Among Migraine Sufferers? (https://cureheadaches.org/2020/01/25/the-link-between-neck-pain-and-migraines/)
Neck Pain (https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/neck-pain/symptoms-causes/syc-20375581)
Headache and Facial Pain (https://www.neurology.columbia.edu/patient-care/specialties/headache-and-facial-pain)
Caught in the thickness of brain fog (https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fphys.2013.00063/full)