HEAD AND NECK PAIN REVIEW - TRADITIONAL AND NEW PERSPECTIVES

A variety oi conditions are frequently associated with the occurrence oi head and neck pain. The purposes of this review are: to describe th e characteristics of several musculoskeletal, neurological, and system ic conditions frequently cited as possible causes of head and neck pai n and to suggest a new technique for treating head and neck pain. The characteristics oi musculoskeletal conditions, such as muscle spasm, t endinitis, trigger points, and joint inflammation, and their relations hip to head and neck pain are considered. The features and clinical im plications oi neurologic conditions, such as atypical facial pain, tri geminal and glossopharyngeal neuralgia, reflex sympathetic dystrophy, and neurogenic inflammation, are also described. The distinguishing ch aracteristics of headaches, including cluster, tension, chronic daily, rebound, posttraumatic, and postlumbar puncture, are detailed This re view also addresses the contributions oi systemic disorders, such as o steoarthritis, rheumatoid arthritis and the variants, and rheumatoid-r elated conditions, like dermatomyositis, temporal arteritis, lyme's di sease, and fibromyalgia, to head and neck pain. The results of a recen t pilot study oi the effectiveness oi intraoral circulating ice water for resolving symptoms related to head and neck pain secondary to neur ogenic inflammation are presented in this work. ice Mater circulating through hollow metal tubes was placed intraorally for 15 minutes in th e posterior maxillary area on 12 individuals with cervical pain and mu scle spasm. In nine of these individuals, reduced cervical pain percep tion, upper trapezius electromyography signal reduction, and increased cervical range of motion was produced. Six out of IZ individuals had accompanying headache, which was reduced or eliminated in four cases. These findings suggest a strong trigemino-cervical relationship to nec k pain and headache.