Chronic headache is not one disease but a bundle of several types. So the starting point of treatment is distinguishing which type it is.

Tension headache, migraine and cervicogenic headache are common, and medication-overuse headache is not rare either. That is where, in those who take painkillers often, the medicine actually sustains the headache.

Korean medicine treatment approaches it by regulating neck and shoulder muscle tension, sleep, digestion and the state of the autonomic nervous system together. Keeping a headache diary for a few days and bringing it helps with distinguishing the type.

The following are not subjects for headache treatment but require immediate emergency care. An extremely severe headache that began suddenly like a thunderclap, a stiff neck with fever, weakness in the limbs on one side or slurred speech, clouding of consciousness, and a headache arising after a head injury.