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Chronic neck pain and cervicogenic headaches

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Opinion statement

Chronic axial neck pain and cervicogenic headache are common problems, and there have been significant advances in the understanding of the etiology and treatment of each. The severity and duration of pain drives the process. For patients who have had slight to moderate pain that has been present for less than 6 months and have no significant motor loss, strength training of anterior, posterior, and interscapular muscle groups coupled with body mechanics training is prescribed. After 8 weeks, if the patient is better, exercises are continued at home or in a gym. If the patient is not better, physical therapy is continued for up to 8 more weeks. In patients with motor loss or severe pain, radiographs and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) should be ordered at the initial visit. In patients with slight to moderate pain who are not better by 4 to 6 months, plain radiographs of the neck and MRI should be ordered. Based on the results, a spinal injection is usually prescribed. If MRI reveals spinal stenosis of the central or lateral canal, or a disc herniation, an epidural corticosteroid injection should be ordered. If the epidural provides good relief, the patient can be referred for more aggressive physical therapy and repeat the epidural as needed up to a maximum of three times. If there is no pathology within the canal, medial branch blocks and intra-articular steroid injections can be ordered based on the joints that are most tender or where disc space narrowing is greatest, or MRI or radiographs are recommended. If there is excellent relief from the medial branch block and joint injections, repeat when the steroids wear off. If there is good relief again, but pain recurs, medial branch radiofrequency neurotomy is recommended. For patients with one or two level disc degeneration that has not responded, a psychologic evaluation and discography is recommended. If there are no significant psychologic abnormalities, and one or two (rarely three) painful discs, surgical consultation is recommended. Adjunctive low-dose opioid analgesics, nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, and perhaps tricyclic antidepressants are used to supplement the program at mid- and late stages.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. SpineCare Medical Group and The San Francisco Spine Institute, 1850 Sullivan Avenue, Suite 200, 94015, Daly City, CA, USA

    Jerome Schofferman MD

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  1. Frank L. Feng DO
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  2. Jerome Schofferman MD
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Feng, F.L., Schofferman, J. Chronic neck pain and cervicogenic headaches. Curr Treat Options Neurol 5, 493–498 (2003). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11940-996-0017-7

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