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Need-to-know anatomy
The brain itself is not sensitive to pain. But the covering of the brain, the blood vessels, the skull, and the scalp are pain sensitive. The nerve responsible for transmitting pain impulses is the trigeminal nerve, which, along with the upper cervical spine nerve roots, is responsible for the bulk of the sensation emanating from the head and neck region.
What impetus stimulates headache pain spontaneously is not known, but the trigeminal nerve and cervical nerves are the common viaduct for pain signals, and the impulses are carried to way stations in the brain stem known as the trigeminocervical complex. Along the way, there are sites where the impulses can be modulated and even aborted.
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