A concussion is supposed to heal in days or weeks. For a significant number of people, the headaches that follow don’t. Post-traumatic headaches are one of the most common and most persistent effects of a concussion, and for many patients it takes on the exact features of migraine: throbbing pain, light and sound sensitivity, nausea, and attacks that flare with exertion or stress.
Researchers believe head trauma can sensitize the same trigeminal nerve pathways involved in ordinary migraine, essentially rewiring the pain system to fire more easily. This is especially true for people who had a personal or family history of migraine headaches before their injury, though post-traumatic headache can also appear in people who never had headaches before. Whatever the starting point, the result is the same: a nervous system left more reactive than it was before the injury.
This matters for recovery timelines too. Athletes, students, and workers are often told to simply rest and wait for concussion symptoms to fade, but when headaches persist well past the typical healing window, waiting alone rarely resolves them. Recognizing the migraine pattern early opens the door to effective migraine treatments that were never going to come from rest alone.
Signs Your Post-Concussion Headaches May Be Migraine
● Headaches lasting more than three months after injury
● Throbbing pain with light or sound sensitivity
● Headaches worsened by physical or mental exertion
● Nausea accompanying the headaches
● Little lasting relief from standard painkillers
If it’s been months since your concussion and the headaches haven’t let up, that’s not something to simply wait out. Post-traumatic migraine responds to many of the same evidence-based migraine headache treatments used for other forms of chronic migraine, and getting an accurate diagnosis from a migraine headache expert is the first step toward real relief, whether your injury happened last month or several years ago.
HOW THERAPEUTIC BOTOX CAN HELP
How Therapeutic Botox Helps Post-Traumatic Migraine
Therapeutic Botox is a well-studied option for chronic migraine relief regardless of what triggered the transition from occasional to frequent headaches, including head injury. By calming the overactive nerve endings around the head, neck, and shoulders, Botox reduces the frequency and severity of post-concussion migraine attacks without adding another oral medication to a recovering system.
It’s approved by Health Canada and the FDA and proven in large clinical trials for chronic migraine. If a concussion left you with headaches that won’t quit, reach out to our migraine headache clinic Burlington ON patients trust for an assessment.
To find out if Therapeutic Botox is right for you, schedule a consultation with Dr. Jared Nabeta, your Migraine headache specialist in Burlington. Call (905) 639-6701 or book online at NabetaDentistry.com/appointment-request.
Get your complimentary “Consumer’s Guide To Migraine and Tension Headache Relief” HERE Call our office to Schedule an Evaluation at (905) 639-6701 or click the link below