Post-Traumatic Headache

Post-traumatic headache is frustrating for patient and physician alike. Disabling headaches which occur after minor, or even trivial, trauma to the head or neck are frequent and may be difficult to treat. Neuroimaging and neurologic examination are usually normal. This may increase the frustration of the patient, who "wrong." The normal findings may also lead the physician (as well as lawyers, employers, and family members of the patient) to doubt the validity of the patient's symptoms. The literature is filled with controversies on this subject. Some authorities believe post-traumatic headache and other posttraumatic symptoms are organic in nature; others believe they are purely psychological in origin, all of which generates further confusion in the care and treatment of these patients.