Occipital neuralgia is nerve pain from the occipital nerves, which run from the top of the neck up the back of the scalp. When these nerves are irritated or compressed, they produce a distinctive pain: sharp, shooting, electric-like jolts starting at the base of the skull and radiating up the back of the head, sometimes behind the eye. It's frequently mistaken for migraine — and treated wrongly for years as a result.
Migraine tends to throb, build gradually, and come with nausea or light sensitivity. Occipital neuralgia strikes in seconds-long jolts, often triggered by neck movement or scalp touch (even brushing your hair), and the scalp may stay tender between attacks. The distinction matters because the treatments are different — and one test tells us a lot: numbing the occipital nerve. If the pain stops, we've found the source.
Tight or injured neck muscles compressing the nerves, whiplash, arthritis in the upper cervical spine, or prolonged head-forward posture. Sometimes no single cause is found — the treatment path is the same.
Every clinic below has Chiropractic, Physical Therapy, Acupuncture and Pain Management on one chart, so care can move between them without a new referral.
Downtown out through the north, west, south and east suburbs.
Academy, Interquest and Tenderfoot cover the north, central and south of the city.
Harmony in Fort Collins and our Greeley clinic serve Larimer and Weld counties.
Across the Valley, from the West Valley through Phoenix to the East Valley.
Mild cases can settle with posture changes and PT. Recurrent electric-shock pain usually needs the nerve addressed directly.
Anesthetic relief is immediate; with steroid, typically weeks to a few months — a window we use for PT.
It's not life-threatening, but new severe headaches always deserve evaluation to rule out other causes.
Occipital Neuralgia is treated at every Mountain View Pain Center clinic in Colorado and Arizona — see the full clinic map, Colorado or Arizona.
