Headache is one of the most common complaints. It is a symptom and not a disease

Types of Headache
There are five types of headache: vascular, myogenic (muscle tension), cervicogenic, traction, and inflammatory.

Vascular
•    The most common type of vascular headache is migraine. Migraine headaches are usually characterized by      severe pain on one or both sides of the head, an upset stomach, and, for some people, disturbed vision. It is      more common in women. While vascular changes are evident during a migraine, the cause of the headache is      neurologic, not vascular. After migraine, the most common type of vascular headache is the "toxic" headache      produced by fever.

•   Other kinds of vascular headaches include cluster headaches, which cause repeated episodes of intense pain,     and headaches resulting from high blood pressure.

Muscular/myogenic headaches appear to involve the tightening or tensing of facial and neck muscles; they may radiate to the forehead. Tension headache is the most common form of myogenic headache.

Cervicogenic headaches originate from disorders of the neck, including the anatomical structures innervated by the cervical roots. Cervical headache is often precipitated by neck movement and/or sustained awkward head positioning.

Traction and inflammatory headaches are symptoms of other disorders, ranging from stroke to sinus infection.

Like other types of pain, headaches can serve as warning signals of more serious disorders. This is particularly true for headaches caused by inflammation, including those related to meningitis as well as those resulting from diseases of the sinuses, spine, neck, ears and teeth.

Common Causes for Headache

•     Tension, emotional stress, depression.
•     Intracranial injury, head injury.
•     Cervical spondylosis
•     Dental or ocular disease,
•     Sinusitis
•     Hypertension
•     Alcoholism
•     Constipation
•     Lack of oxygen

Treatment
Some forms of headache, such as migraine, may respond to preventative treatment.
he patients suffering from headache have to do three things:

(i)       Regular practice of selected yoga asana, pranayama, or exercise
(ii)      Proper diet,
(iii)     Avoid the things which strain the nerves

In today’s world of increasing medication usage, more and more people are realizing that drugs are not always the best answer to their headaches and are looking for effective drug free solutions.

Yoga is a popular drug free solution to many ills, including certain headache conditions, particularly, tension and migraine headaches.

Since stress headaches are basically due to muscle tension, yoga can offer a perfect solution to treat them because yoga exercises are meant to relieve physical muscle tension as well as mental tension. Especially if you are suffering from the chronic type of tension headaches, treating them with painkillers could lead to overdosing and, consequently, rebound headaches. So why poison your body if you can treat your headache without drugs or altogether prevent it from occurring with simple stress management techniques and correct body posture?

Yoga exercises that involve full stretching of the upper back, neck, shoulders and the chest are ideal. They help alleviate the pain by

•    Releasing the muscular tension in the neck and shoulder regions,
•    Increasing blood circulation to the head and
•    Stimulating the nervous system.

Yoga breathing exercises and meditation help alleviate tension headaches by calming the mind, reducing stress, negativity and anxiety and creating a positive mental attitude.