Chronic Daily Headaches

Chronic daily headache is a term used to describe any type of primary headache or migraine that is present more days than not. It is generally diagnosed following a 6 month period with more than 15 symptomatic days per month.

The most common headache and migraine types to become a chronic daily headache include (1):

• Tension type headache
• Migraine
• Cluster headache
• Hemicrania continua

Chronic daily headache is generally the result of two distinct processes (2):

1. Medication adaptation headache: The headaches become more frequent as a rebound effect of consistently using medications for relief.
2. Transformed migraine: The severe episodes of headache and migraine become more frequent until there is a constant ‘background’ headache with intermittent severe episodes.

Both of these situations provide a distinct challenge to manage as the use of medications can gradually become ineffective or counter-productive.

Treatment for Chronic Daily Headaches

Treatment of this category of headache is a challenge that requires a holistic, patient centred approach in order to be successful. Often working with a team of health professionals is necessary to make improvements quickly and sustainably.

At Flow Osteopathy we are focussed on providing evidence based solutions for people living with chronic daily headaches. We are able to accurately determine if your upper neck is involved in the headaches and whether it is treatable using our approach.