While I’ve never heard anyone else actually complain about this, I’d think it would be fairly common across the population. Sometimes the muscles that are under your scalp on the lower back and side portion of your skull suddenly and inexplicably tense up, spasm, and it’s painful enough to be momentarily debilitating. The actual contraction is brief enough but the pain can linger for a bit, sometimes a small residual for a day or more.
In my personal experience, there doesn’t appear to be a particular reason behind it. I don’t see it related to a specific movement or to stress or fatigue or any other logical association. It also doesn’t happen very often, perhaps a couple or several times a year.
Is there a name for this affliction? Is it in fact something most people experience at some time? Is there a cause or some way to prevent it? Discomfort aside, if it were to happen at a critical time, while driving for instance, the repercussions could extend beyond mere aggravation.
Sounds like a medical question. Instead of using the impersonal “sometimes your scalp does this,” perhaps it would have been better to say “sometimes MY scalp does this.” I’ve never heard of this, and IANAD, but it could be a symptom of migraine, or a simple muscle spasm.
They can be referred to as muscle spasm headaches or as myofascial pain. The pattern described would also be suspicious for a temporomandibular joint (TMJ) dysfunction component - the temporalis, occipital and cervical muscles prone to spasming up due to constant use guarding an irritated and or inflamed TMJ. If you put your finger in your ear canal, press forward, and then open your mouth wide and experience significant discomfort as a result, then such is to be strongly suspected. More often that pain occurs in the mornings after waking secondary to grinding at night in sleep.
(Of course not to be construed as medical advice - just hypothetically.)
IANAD [Of Medicine] - but I have certainly experienced this. I asked my doc about it a while back and he mentioned [perhaps the same nerve DSeid mentioned] and that it can be caused by a lot of different factors…the way you head rests on your brain stem during the work day, stress, etc…I do not know that name…
I get that fairly frequently and yes, it is unpleasant…even debilitating at worst. In my case it does seem to be related to stress and fatigue, also a low-grade fever will bring it on. Not a doctor, but my own opinion FWIW is that the condition is caused by inflamation and pressure on nerves in the upper back and neck. Per my layman’s understanding of anatomy, A misalignment in the upper spine can put pressure on nerves where they pass through the spinal column and along the spinal discs.
While I know that chiropractors are generally held in low esteem, my experience is that this is one area where a competent chiropractor can sometimes provide relief. Aside from that, a good-sized dose of analgesic like aspirin or Ibupropfen seems to help.
SS
Thank you all for the comments and information. I guess it really is something that should be taken up with the doc. While certainly not unique, perhaps it is less commonplace than I’d realized. If he has anything interesting or helpful to offer, in a general sense of course, I’ll come back and share. Thanks again.