How to treat chronic headaches: a comprehensive approach from the Pain Unit
Headache or headache is one of the most common painful disorders. Although in many cases it is a mild and temporary pain, when it becomes chronic it can significantly affect the quality of life, making it difficult to rest, work and daily activities.
In the Pain Unit of MIVI Canarias, Dr. Jesús de Santiago, Coordinator of the unit, explains that the approach to headache should always begin with a differential diagnosis, in order to effectively treat the causes of the headache.
🎥 You can watch the full video here.
Diagnosis of chronic headache
The first step is to identify the origin of the headache. To do this, the specialist performs:
- Complete medical history, evaluating symptoms and patient’s history.
- Detailed physical examination, looking for signs that point to a specific origin.
- Diagnostic tests, when necessary, to confirm or rule out neurological, musculoskeletal, vascular or inflammatory causes.
“Every headache patient is unique. Identifying the causes and triggers is key to regaining your quality of life.”
Some common causes of chronic headache are:
- Cervical problems (cervicogenic headache).
- Occipital or trigeminal neuralgia.
- Inflammatory or infectious processes, such as sinusitis.
- Migraine headaches, which may have hormonal, dietary or emotional triggers.
Comprehensive approach to treatment
At MIVI Salud we apply a multidisciplinary treatment, which combines habit correction, psychological therapies, medication and interventional procedures.
- Elimination of causes and triggers
- Identification of bad postural habits.
- Treatment of cervical lesions, sinusitis or other associated processes.
- Withdrawal of food or hormonal triggers in case of migraine.
- Improvement of living habits
- Maintain a balanced diet.
- Regular physical exercise.
- Taking care of rest and sleep hygiene.
- Incorporate stress management techniques, such as cognitive-behavioral therapy.
- Pharmacological and preventive treatment
- Medication for acute crises and prevention of migraines.
- Individual adjustment according to the patient’s evolution and tolerance.
- Interventional procedures: for patients with chronic headaches or those resistant to conventional treatments, we have advanced techniques such as:
- Nerve blocks with local anesthetics or corticosteroids.
- Radiofrequency and neuromodulation to reduce the sensitivity of the affected nerve.
- Botulinum toxin injections, useful in certain types of migraine.
- Peripheral neurostimulation, such as occipital nerve stimulation.
- Infusion therapies with local anesthetics to raise the pain threshold.
All these techniques are performed under ultrasound or radioscopic control, which allows for greater precision and safety.
Objective: to recover the quality of life
Chronic pain management is a progressive process. As headache management progresses, the patient experiences:
- Reduction of pain intensity and frequency.
- Less dependence on medication.
- Improved quality of life and functional capacity.
“Although many chronic headaches cannot be cured, we can get the patient to live pain-free and return to a normal life.”
💙 At MIVI Salud we are committed to accompanying you every step of the way to a pain-free life.
🎥 F ind out more about how we approach chronic headaches in our Pain Unit with the recommendations of Dr. Jesús de Santiago in this video: