Headache

A headache (medically known as cephalalgia) is a condition of mild to severe pain in the head; sometimes upper back or neck pain may also be interpreted as a headache. Headache is the second-most common form of local pain. (The most common is molar pain, i.e. toothache in one or more of the flat-crowned teeth used for grinding food.)

Causes

There are many different causes of headache. They can be broadly classified in the following three categories:

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• Intracranial, e.g. meningitis, tumours
• Extracranial, e.g. tension headache
• Psychogenic, e.g. vital depression