Management of the Patient with Cervicogenic Headaches

Course Description

This is a lecture based course that will discuss the incidence of cervicogenic headaches and the need for effective management of these patients. Those with cervicogenic headache report a lower quality of life and a greater loss of function as compared to those with other types of headaches. Physical therapists are well poised to provide effective treatment and management of these patients.

The course will discuss the typical presentation of these patients and the differential diagnosis of patients with cervicogenic headaches from patients with migraines and other non-mechanical causes of headaches.

We will review an appropriate subjective and objective examination for patients presenting to the clinic with a headache due to suspected cervicogenic causes. This course will also provide a review of relevant literature on effective physical therapy management of cervicogenic headaches and will provide suggestions of appropriate manual therapy techniques as well as exercise progressions and concepts surrounding patient education that is important in the management of this patient population.

Course Objectives

At the end of this course, the participant will be able to:

• Identify the need for effective treatment and management of patients with cervicogenic headaches.
• Describe the typical presentation pattern of patients with cervicogenic headaches.
• Identify clinical screening tools used to differentially diagnose patients with cervigogenic headaches.
• Describe an effective objective examination for a patient with a cervicogenic headache.
• Describe an effective treatment plan for a patient with a cervicogenic headache.

• Prerequisites

  None

• Educational Level

  Basic

• Other

  Satisfactory completion of this course will require the participant to complete a 10 question post-test with a minimum passing score of 70%.