Occipital neuralgia: symptoms, diagnosis, and treatment.

Occipital neuralgia (ON) is a relatively rare primary headache disorder (primary headache disorders are not symptoms of or caused by another condition) affecting around 3.2/100,000 people per year.1 The term “neuralgia” refers to pain in the distribution of a nerve, in this case the occipital nerves. The greater, lesser, and third occipital nerves originate from the upper cervical nerve roots, course up the neck muscles, and exit near the base of the skull. These pure sensory nerves provide sensation to the back of the head, up to the top of the head, and behind the ears.