Features: Magazine | Literary Review | Life | Metro Plus | Open Page | Education Plus | Book Review | Business | SciTech | NXg | Friday Review | Cinema Plus | Young World | Property Plus | Quest |

Shooting pain that makes you pause

Mind that pain Jogging or other exercises can occasionally create a pain Photo:K.R. Deepak

About 1 in 100 people suffer from headaches during or after a workout. The pain usually occurs with strenuous exercise — especially during or after running, swimming, aerobic dancing and weight training. Doctors call it a primary exercise headache when no underlying cause can be found. Unfortunately, some exercise-related headaches do have serious underlying causes, and these are called secondary exercise headaches. The causes range from an intra-cerebral bleed to a brain tumour.

Primary exercise headaches typically occur in young men. The pain is frequently throbbing in nature and may occur on both halves of the skull. It subsides within a few hours. Those with a history of migraine are more likely to have it.The cause of primary exercise headache is unknown.

Secondary exercise headaches often occur in older individuals. The pain may be sudden and intense — like a thunderclap (found in subarachnoid haemorrhage), or it may just resemble a primary exercise headache. Fever, neck rigidity, vomiting, loss of consciousness and muscular weakness are important clues to the presence of a serious underlying cause.

It is important to get a medical opinion on an exercise-related headache. Most will turn out to be benign, but even harmless headaches need medical therapy- especially if they are thwarting your exercise goals.

A simple warm-up before strenuous exercise will prevent many of these episodes. Reducing exercise intensity or switching to a type of exercise that does not evoke a headache in you will do the trick sometimes. In troublesome cases, a physician might prescribe a painkiller such as indomethacin or a migraine prophylaxis drug such as propranolol. It is important to realise that a headache might have a simple, easily preventable cause: exposure to cold air, low blood glucose levels, high blood pressure resulting from noncompliance with antihypertensive therapy, and lack of sleep are all easily avoidable.

Many people gain comfort and reassurance simply from knowing that their headache is perfectly harmless. However, it is important to be vigilant even in these cases: a headache that lasts more than a few hours or is associated with a new symptom means it is time to re-examine the problem.

Printer friendly page  
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail