Why does the back of my head hurt?

Why does my neck and back of my head hurt?!?

• This has been happening on and off. The front of my neck will hurt. Not a sore pain, but like a sharp pain, and then the pain will go to the back of my head and sometimes I'll get sharp pain in my collarbones. I felt around and felt no lumps or anything...what could this be? I'm a 17 year old female btw

• Answer:

  This question is an exceptionally common one, but with different twists. And that's because you have a muscle in your neck that can cause problems at a bunch of other places besides the neck. When you read about it, you'll see why. The Sternocleidomastoid muscle goes from behind the ear to the collarbone, so no surprise at pain around your collarbone, and as you say, the 'front of your neck'. In fact, the first site shows the multitude of symptom sites, along with often-presented symptom descriptions. Second site gives a lot more detail, and a broader description of Sternocleidomastoid Syndrome, which accounts for your head pain. This same muscle can even account for congested maxillary sinuses, tooth ache, vision blurring, hearing loss, even difficulty swallowing. And a bunch more. What to do about it? Well, it's not appropriate to press on it, it carries, among other things, the Vagus Nerve. Press on that, and your heart can be slowed, even stopped in a transient fashion. But there is a way of getting the muscle better circulation, less tightness. It's with a special stretch, last site. If you have difficulty in either direction, take it nice and easy, work on getting the maximum stretch.