Headache

Tension Headaches

Signs and Symptoms
Diagnosis
Treatment

Signs and Symptoms

Tension-type headache is a term used to describe chronic headaches that cause a tight, band-like pain. This is the most common type of headache, afflicting 88 percent of women and 68 percent of men. A tension headache is a mild to moderate steady pain, tightness or pressure around the head and neck. These headaches may be provoked by the stress and frustrations of everyday life, eyestrain or poor posture.

When tension-type headaches occur on a daily or almost daily basis, they are called chronic daily headaches. Often, other symptoms accompany these headaches including fatigue, sleep disturbances and depression. Tension-type and migraine headaches can and often do occur together, and many doctors believe that the two types of headaches arise from the same mechanism.

Reviewed by health care specialists at UCSF Medical Center.
Last updated May 8, 2007