Description

If you have experienced a tension-type headache, then you may have felt the muscles around the back of your head or neck contracting or "tensing up." Or, it may have felt like pressure on your head or neck, or like a dull ache on one side, but not a sharp pain. Your child's tension-type headache will feel the same way and will usually occur at school; it seems to disappear when he or she relaxing, eating or playing.

Causes

Stress
As they do in adults, stress, anxiety or depression can cause tension-type headaches in children. Something stressful may have happened at school, or the academic pressure is making your child anxious. Your child might be depressed about a situation at home.

Physical Strain
The cause of your child's headache could be eye strain. Can he or she read books or magazines without having to strain his or her eyes to see the words? When your child looks at TV or goes to the movies, is the picture clear or fuzzy? Or, is your child's headache the result of neck or back strain, which could be caused by poor posture?

Hunger
A child's headache may be the result of something as simple as hunger. If, after a full night's sleep and no food, your child does not eat breakfast before school, or does not eat lunch, he or she may be suffering from a hunger or fasting headache. The "treatment" (breaking the fast) would be breakfast — at the very least, bread or fiber-rich cereal and milk. Encourage your child to eat a mid-morning snack, such as fruit, and a well-rounded lunch.

Inflammation
When your tissues are injured or irritated, they become inflamed; that is, they become swollen, red or warm. An inflammatory headache might accompany diseases of the eyes, ears, nose, teeth, or sinuses, neck or jaw disorders, and neuralgias. The inflammation mechanism, like internal traction, is also associated with organic headaches and requires immediate medical care.

Foods
Refer to "Foods and Diet" in the Migraine Headache section of this web site; it presents foods or food additives that often trigger a headache. If your child's headache disappears by avoiding "trigger foods," then you might be able to reintroduce one food at a time to see if it prompts a headache again.

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Tension-Type Headaches in Children | Treatments

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