Do you know about exercise headaches after sport?

in collaboration with

Dr Gérald Kierzek (Medical Director of Doctissimo)

Have you just had a good workout and shortly after you experience headaches? This type of headache must be taken seriously, as emergency doctor and medical director of Doctissimo, Gérald Kierzek, reminds us.

Headache after sport, a common cause of pain

Headaches triggered after a sports session or any other physical activity are common. They are called secondary headaches, that is to say secondary to an activity, to differentiate them from primary headaches, which have no cause. They can be caused by hypertension during exercise or, more benignly, from a lack of hydration or caloric intake in carbohydrates, necessary before any major effort.

A headache that should prompt you to consult

“If you have a headache after exercise, you should consult a doctor to talk to him about it.“immediately advises Dr. Gérald Kierzek, emergency physician and medical director of Doctissimo.”This type of pain should not be trivialized, because it can reveal an intracranial pathology in 2 to 10% of cases. adds the doctor.

“I therefore recommend, after a first episode, to consult a doctor to eliminate an organic cause and to have medical imaging, scanner or MRI, which he will have prescribed for you, to detect a possible cerebral pathology.“Finally, insists the doctor, “in the event of very strong pain, ‘like a thunderclap’, you must stop your activity and call the emergency services, because this could be a subarachnoid hemorrhage or a ruptured brain aneurysm“.

Sport, not recommended in case of headaches?

Should you avoid doing sports in the case of a mild headache? “No,” says the doctor, “this is not a formal contraindication. Once the examinations have been carried out and they are reassuring, we can resume sport, it is even a factor of improvement in headache” specifies Dr. Gérald Kierzek, who adds that certain medications, such as triptans, can be prescribed to manage painful crises.