The A to Z of Headaches

You are here:
Directory | Headaches | Headache

An Interesting History Lesson On Headaches
By Wendy Simons

Headaches are a common problem in many people's lives, and we tend to blame our hectic modern lifestyles for this recurrent ailment. But looking back at the history of headaches, we now know that the problem has been in existence for thousands of years. The reason is that lifestyle factors that cause headache suffering including improperly balanced nutrition, lack of physical activity, and stress may have originated in the ancient civilization.

One of the earliest evidence that headaches may be an ancient problem date back to prerecorded history. Archaeologists have found hundreds of years old skulls that have markings similar to those produced by an ancient practice called trepanation. This procedure involves drilling or cutting a small hole into the skull in order to relieve headaches. Surprisingly, many patients survived this procedure; but whether their headaches disappeared is not known.

In Egypt and in Mesopotamia, which includes today's Iraq and is considered one of the birthplace of civilization, people believed that headaches were caused by supernatural powers. Consequently, headaches were treated with prayers, chants, or spells.

Ancient Rome and Greece produced the first reliable and systematic studies of headaches. Most distinguished physicians and scientists of that period of history studied and wrote about headaches. They include Hippocrates, who is called the father of modern medicine, and Galen, a 2nd century physician and writer whose work influenced much of European medicine until the 19th century. Actually, the word migraine was derived from the term hemikrania that Galen introduced (in Greek, hemi means half and kranion means skull.)

Following the fall of the Roman Empire, Middle-Eastern scholars continued much of the scientific work. The most famous among them was an early 11th century Persian physician, Avicenna who provided new theories and insights to explain certain observations. Avicenna explained why particular smells, noises, or light sometimes triggered headaches. But medieval Europe was governed by strict Christian doctrines and was not ready to accept such way of thinking. Centuries would pass before scholars went back to the systematic study of headaches started by Galen.

Treating headaches have varied widely throughout the history. We know that prayers and chants have played a role since the beginning of time. We also know that the ancient Greeks and Romans relied largely on herbal and other remedies derived from nature. In fact, this was true in many other cultures throughout the world. For example. Native Americans used to treat headaches with willow bark, which contains a substance similar to aspirin.

Some people believe there is a connection between headaches and a person's psychological state. More than 2,300 years ago, the Greek philosopher Plato noted that there seemed to be a correlation between the occurrence of headaches and certain emotions. Much later, the Austrian neurologist and founder of psychoanalysis Sigmund Freud contended that headaches were the result of some inner subconscious conflict.

Author Details:
Wendy Simons, writes for various websites, mainly about skin care, microdermabrasion and other health matters. If you are looking for further information try these migraine articles from Simply Top

Source: The A to Z of Headaches

NOTE: This article may be reproduced ONLY if this note, the article source, the author details with all links remaining active and in place.

Related Headache Articles:

Straight to the point short articles about the headache:

Older Articles About Headaches:

You are here:
Directory | Headaches |