The neck is a stack of small joints and muscles that holds a five-kilo head still for hours. Hold it in one position, forward over a screen or a phone, and the muscles at the back tire and the joints stiffen. That is the most common cause. Others are a sudden movement or whiplash, a worn disc with pain into the arm, stress that tightens the shoulders, or a pillow that does not fit.
Headaches that start in the neck (cervicogenic headache) and tension headaches are closely linked to the upper neck joints and muscles. Your physiotherapist tests whether your headache responds to treatment of the neck; if it does, you feel it in the first session.

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