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Differential Diagnosis of Head Pain
A comprehensive ICHD-3 framework for classifying primary, secondary, and cranial nerve pain across the full headache spectrum
Classify and diagnose the full spectrum of head pain with confidence. Built on ICHD-3 criteria for clinicians ready to elevate their diagnostic precision.
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Course Description
Head pain is one of the most diagnostically complex presentations in clinical practice. With more than 200 recognized headache disorders spanning primary, secondary, and cranial nerve categories, the gap between pattern recognition and systematic diagnosis creates real consequences for patients who cycle through treatments without resolution.
This course equips clinicians with the diagnostic framework to confidently classify and differentiate head pain using ICHD-3 criteria. From migraine variants and trigeminal autonomic cephalalgias to cervicogenic headache and secondary red flags, you will build the clinical precision to match the right diagnosis to the right patient, and apply targeted, evidence-informed interventions with authority.
What you’ll learn:
- Apply ICHD-3 diagnostic criteria across primary and secondary headache classifications
- Distinguish migraine variants including vestibular, hemiplegic, and retinal subtypes
- Differentiate TACs using duration, autonomic features, and indomethacin response
- Identify red flags and secondary headache causes requiring urgent workup
- Use the flexion-rotation test and clinical findings to differentiate CGH from migraine
More About This Course
Head pain remains one of the most prevalent and diagnostically demanding presentations in clinical neuroscience. Conditions including migraine, tension-type headache, trigeminal autonomic cephalalgias, cervicogenic headache, and secondary headache disorders collectively affect a substantial portion of the patients seen across chiropractic, neurology, and rehabilitation settings. Yet the sheer complexity of the International Classification of Headache Disorders, third edition (ICHD-3), combined with significant phenotypic overlap between conditions, means that clinicians without a systematic framework often find their patients cycling through trial-and-error care. Differential diagnosis of head pain is not a soft skill. It is a precision clinical competency grounded in neuroanatomy, pathophysiology, and structured diagnostic reasoning.
This four-credit continuing education course taught by Dr. Adam Harcourt builds that competency from the ground up. Clinicians gain a working mastery of the trigeminovascular system and its central role in primary headache generation, a command of ICHD-3 diagnostic criteria across all major headache categories, and a structured clinical approach for differentiating overlapping presentations. Validated tools including the MIDAS questionnaire, ID Migraine screener, and the flexion-rotation test are integrated throughout, giving clinicians actionable instruments to deploy immediately in practice. Secondary headache red flags, Glasgow Coma Scale interpretation, post-traumatic headache staging, and the neuroscience of medication-overuse headache are all addressed within a clinically grounded framework built for real patient encounters.
This course is designed for licensed healthcare clinicians who are already seeing head pain in practice and are ready to move beyond symptom-level pattern matching into systematic, neurologically informed differential diagnosis. It is particularly relevant for chiropractors, chiropractic neurologists, neurologists, physical therapists, and rehabilitation specialists who manage complex or refractory head pain presentations.
Dr. Adam Harcourt is a Doctor of Chiropractic, a Diplomate of the American Chiropractic Neurology Board, a Fellow of the American Board of Vestibular Rehabilitation, and a Fellow of the American College of Functional Neurology. His clinical and educational work reflects a rigorous integration of current headache neuroscience with practical diagnostic and management frameworks suited to advanced clinicians.
Components
Educational Syllabus
- The Trigeminovascular System as the Engine of Head Pain
- Understand how the trigeminal ganglion, trigeminocervical complex, and key neuropeptides including CGRP drive the perception and chronification of head pain.
- Mastering Migraine and Its Many Clinical Faces
- Navigate every migraine variant from vestibular and hemiplegic to retinal and chronic, using ICHD-3 diagnostic criteria and validated screening tools like MIDAS to sharpen clinical decisions.
- Tension-Type Headache and the Musculoskeletal Connection
- Explore the peripheral and central mechanisms behind TTH, including the role of myofascial trigger points and suboccipital dysfunction, and the manual therapies with evidence behind them.
- Decoding Trigeminal Autonomic Cephalalgias
- Distinguish cluster headache, paroxysmal hemicrania, hemicrania continua, and SUNCT using attack duration, autonomic features, and critical pharmacological response patterns.
- Secondary Headaches and the Red Flags You Cannot Miss
- Survey the full secondary headache spectrum from vascular emergencies to infection, trauma, and medication overuse, with a structured clinical framework for recognizing when imaging is urgent.
- Cranial Nerve Pain Syndromes and Cervicogenic Headache
- Differentiate trigeminal neuralgia, occipital neuralgia, and cervicogenic headache from primary disorders using the flexion-rotation test and ICHD-3 criteria to guide targeted clinical action.
Venue, Hotels & Schedule
Also includes
Differential Diagnosis of Head Pain
Classify and diagnose the full spectrum of head pain with confidence. Built on ICHD-3 criteria for clinicians ready to elevate their diagnostic precision.
$
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The Carrick Institute team is ready to assist with enrollment, CE approval, or program planning. Email visit our CE Portal or Contact Us directly.