WAYS OF HEADACHES

Evening Post, Volume CXVIII, Issue 92, 16 October 1934, Page 3

WAYS OF HEADACHES

MOSTLY DUE TO THE EYES

THE OPINION OF DOCTORS

Thei'o are many causes of headache, both of the occasional and recurrent type.. But there are probably many more headaches due to slight defects of vision than most sufferers imagine; and this was emphasised at the recent meeting of the British Medical Association, both from the ophthalmic and the neurological point of view, says the medical correspondent of the "Daily Telegraph." In a very interesting paper, written from the former standpoint, Mr. Arthur Griffith reported that no less Ihan 24 per cent, of 1000 cases of defective vision were suffering from headache, the majority being due either to conscious or unconscious overaction of the eye muscles. A long-sighted person, for instance — and most people towards middle-age develop a tendency in this direction—has to over-contract the muscles of his pupil to focus upon nearer objects, such as figures or print. Under these conditions the muscles inevitably tire. Belief is sought by gazing for a few minutes into the distance. But by the end of the day the relative nerves have often become so affected that headache ensues. A recurrent evening headache is thus always an indication that the state of the vision should be at least investigated. But, as Mr. Griffith pointed out, morning and weekend headaches, seldom associated in the mind with visual causes, may in fact be equally the result of them. This is due to the power of an otherwise healthy and engrossed person to ignore or' overlook slight pain. It is only after sleep or cessation from work has temporarily banished absorption in the work on hand that the pain caused by the over-worked eye muscles is able to assert itself in consciousness. USUALLY IN FRONT. Similar results may also occur in the under-corrected short-sighted or astigmatic person; and it is an interesting fact that the lesser deviations from the normal—because less noticeable to the sufferer —cause far more headache than the extrcmer degrees of long—or shortsightedness, which have forced correction by glasses for other reasons. Barer cases of headache also occur where stereoscopic vision is difficult owing to some weakness of the extrinsic muscles that control the movements of the whole eyeball. The majority of eye-headaches are of the frontal type. But certain occipital, or back-of-the-head, headaches may also be the result of some definite error of visual accommodation. Shortsighted people in particular often tend to screw up their eyes or frown when reading, and muscles are brought into play that tend to drug unduly upon the underlying skin-tissues that cover the scalp, and this in turn may cause an over-contraction of the muscles at the back of the neck. To a certain extent this may be a sort, of habit-spasm that the sufferer may himself be able to break with instant relief. There are, of course, maiij' headaches which may be due to gross disease of the eyes, and other types, such as migraine, that are also associated with visual phenomena—spots and stars and even temporary semi-blind-ness—which are not directly duo to errors of vision and require other treatment. But a slight error of vision may so frequently be responsible for so great a degree of headache or discomfort that, in all cases of chronic headache, a routine examination of the eyes should never be neglected.