Modern medicine tells a story remarkably similar to the wisdom of Donguibogam. Headaches accompanied by chronic shoulder tightness and pain in the back of the neck can largely be explained as tension headache and cervicogenic headache. Stress, anxiety, and prolonged poor posture, such as looking at smartphones or computers for extended periods in forward head posture or straight neck syndrome, excessively tense the muscles of the neck, shoulders, and upper back. This particularly affects the trapezius muscle, sternocleidomastoid, and suboccipital muscles.
When these muscles continuously contract and become rigid, the microvessels inside them are compressed, reducing the blood supply. If blood circulation is impaired, the supply of oxygen and nutrients to muscle tissue becomes insufficient, and metabolic waste such as lactic acid accumulates, causing muscle pain. This muscle rigidity can also compress nerves. In particular, when the occipital nerve is compressed, a band-like tightening pain spreads from the back of the neck across the entire head, producing a tension headache. Patients often describe this pain as feeling like a tight band wrapped around the head.
Furthermore, when the alignment of the cervical vertebrae is disrupted or tension in the surrounding neck muscles becomes severe, the joints and surrounding tissues of the cervical vertebrae become inflamed or nerves become irritated, leading to cervicogenic headache. Cervicogenic headache often worsens with neck movement or presents concentrated on one side of the head. In particular, the nerves between the first and third cervical vertebrae are connected to the trigeminocervical nucleus, so neck pain can radiate and be felt in the face or the entire head.
This entire process is also closely related to stress hormones. Stress stimulates the sympathetic nerve, constricting blood vessels and worsening muscle tension in a vicious cycle. Ultimately, the body suffers from chronic headaches due to the combined issues of neck and shoulder tension, circulatory disorder, and nerve compression. What Donguibogam described as qi and blood stagnation is reflected with remarkable scientific precision in modern medicine.
