[Pressure headache (cough headache)--definition and comments on etiology]

Seven case histories serve to introduce and illustrate the term press headache. This term applies to all manifestations of headache released or caused by abdominal muscle pressure (defaecation, cough, sneeze, laughter etc.). This type of headache is thus marked of the collective term "exertional headache", commonly used in American literature, and is than differentiated from "exertional headache" proper ("effort migraine") on the one hand and coital headache on the other. Obviously, males predominate among those who suffer from press headache, the average age being 53-55 years. Blockage of the foramen magnum is discussed as a possible cause, in some cases perhaps influenced by hereditary tonsillar ectopia (Arnold Chiari I).