About Us | Privacy | Site Map
Font Size
A
A
A


Tension Headache

Tension Headache Overview

More than 10 million people a year visit a doctor or an emergency department because of headache. With a complete history and physical examination, a doctor can correctly diagnose and treat a great majority of headaches.

Tension headache is the most common type of headache.

  • About 69% of men and 88% of women develop a tension headache sometime during their lives.

  • Tension headache can occur at any age but most commonly begins during adolescence or young adulthood, with the highest frequency among those aged 20-50 years.

  • More than 300 known medical disorders can produce headaches. In 1988, the International Headache Society developed a classification system for headache. Thirteen categories of headache are subdivided into 129 subtypes. Headache types are described as primary or secondary.

    • Primary headaches include migraine, tension-type, and cluster headaches. More than 90% of people who see a doctor for headache pain have one of these types. Primary headaches are usually harmless, but they may come back again and again.

    • Secondary headaches are often the result of some underlying disease, of which head pain is a symptom.

  • The International Headache Society further divides tension headaches into episodic or chronic and on the presence or absence of pericranial muscle tenderness (pain on the outside of the skull).

    • People with episodic tension-type headaches have at least 10 previous headache episodes lasting from 30 minutes to 7 days and occurring fewer than 180 times a year. The headache must have at least 2 of the following characteristics:

      • Pressing/tightening (nonpulsating) quality, located on both sides of the head

      • Mild or moderate intensity

      • Not aggravated by routine physical activity

      • No nausea or vomiting

      • Possible sensitivity to light or sound but not both

    • People with chronic tension-type headache have an average headache frequency of 15 days a month or 180 days a year for 6 months and must also meet the criteria for episodic tension-type headache. In addition, people with chronic tension-type headache must not have another disorder as shown by physical and neurologic examination.



Next: Tension Headache Causes »

Printer-Friendly Format  |  Email to a Friend

Living Better

Find the secrets to longer life.

Are You Depressed? Take the Quiz


Tension Headache

Migraine Headaches Introduction

Headaches are very common; in fact, almost everyone will have a headache at some point. Headaches have been written about since the time of the Babylonians. Migraine headaches are even discussed in the Bible. Some very famous historical figures (for example, Napoleon Bonaparte) suffered from severe headaches.

Experts do not agree about what causes headaches, but they agree that more studies are needed. Headaches are hard to study because of the following reasons:

  • People experience pain differently (in other words, a headache one person rates as a 10 on a scale of 10 might be rated as a 5 by another person).

  • Measuring headache pain in a standard way that accounts for the personal way people feel pain is almost impossible.

  • Studies are limited to human subjects.

Although headaches might rarely be d...

Read the Causes and Treatments of Migraine and Related Headaches article »



Read What Your Physician is Reading on eMedicine

Headache, Tension »

The International Headache Society (IHS) began developing a classification system for headaches in 1985.

Read More on eMedicine »

Medical Dictionary