Headache Infographic – What do you think?
I was recently sent this infographic from The Mount Sinai Hospital in New York.
Infographics can be useful summaries. But sometimes when we summarize information, we can miss important things. How do you think this infographic does?
Source: Mount Sinai Medical Center
20 January 2012 @ 11:53 pm
I’m a huge fan of infographics but I think this one is trying to convey too much information. They could have shut it down after the 4% graphic and before the ‘types of headaches’. I think it would have had more impact. As it is, the message is diluted so much.
21 January 2012 @ 10:45 am
I agree with Dr. White. I love inforgraphics, but the info down past the 4% is a bit busy. I like the images, but way too much text. And whats up with these purple silohuettes of people at the bottom? What are they doing, is that large one receiving Botox? Which I know has been mentioned for migraines, but not mentioned in this piece?!?
22 January 2012 @ 6:05 am
I am a migraine sufferer and I have had botox now three times. The botox gives you a terrible headache almost right after the injection. I have stopped because the injections create the headaches and they are really bad. There is a web site that people who have had the botox injections say there have had a terrible headache after their injections. It is called Real Self. Visit it and see about all the people who are suffering with botox headaches. Botox doesn’t help…….
29 July 2015 @ 12:18 pm
Botox is not for headaches, it is for migraines. There is a big radiance between the two. How much Botox hurts depends on who is doing the injections. If the doctor puts the needle in at the wrong angle it hurts like Hell, I know, I had a sub doctor once.
I have daily headaches and chronic migraine. I get Botox. My doctor told me it is not suppose to do anything for headache and is one of the short-term side effects. My headache did not get worse in the long run. My headaches were worse for about a week and a half. But my migraines did reduce to about three a week (from seven a week) after doing Botox for six months.
25 January 2012 @ 11:25 pm
First, it’s great to see an effort to educate people about headaches. But as others have commented, there is too much material here for one infographic. It would be much more effective to have a series of infographics, something along the lines of: overview — prevalence and types of headaches; then a separate infographic on each type of headache; then easy remedies.
Also as others have commented, what’s up with the purple silhouette of an apparent injection? Or is that a desperate sufferer with a drill bit trying to open up a way for the pain to escape? (Bad joke.)
And finally, the cluttered graphic design gets in the way of easily reading the material. The discordant colors, large multidirectional arrows and reversed (i.e., white on color) type give me a “premigraine” queasy feeling.
18 July 2015 @ 5:47 pm
My major problem with this is that it is mixing Headaches and Migraine. Migraines as you know is much more than a headache. It is a neurological disease. This fails to communicate this and does not help migraneurs in the challenges they face on a daily basis when people dismiss it as just a headache. It’s also very busy. Too much colour and information. Not sure who this is aimed at as it is using jargon.
29 July 2015 @ 6:56 am
I agree with all of the above comments but would also add that in the treatments for migraine, they mention over the counter medications which above they say this causes chronic migraine and DO NOT mention preventatives like they do for cluster.
14 April 2016 @ 1:13 pm
Hey, wait, Mt. Sinai!!!
I looked for myself all the way at the bottom: the Arnold Chiari Malformation headache. I wasn’t there, and that makes me sad. It is arguably one of the most severe, constant, and utterly overlooked diagnosis of headache type. With Chiari – and I’m WAAAY simplifying this – your brain herniates into your spinal canal, and smushes your brain stem. This often occurs along with cervical spinal instability. There is no cure. The only treatment is surgery to relieve some of the symptoms, and prevent further progression.
I had a 30-year headache. 30 YEARS. I ended up diagnosing it myself, combing through academic research on the Internet since I had AOL on dial-up. I saw more than 100 doctors in different specialties all over the country, and most told me nothing was wrong. I finally went to an orthopedic surgeon and asked for an upright MRI; when you are lying down for a scan, gravity pushes the brain back into its “normal” place, so to diagnose, you MUST let gravity pull your brain down as it does all day, day after day, year after year. I actually had to forge the doctor’s orders for the lab (yeah, arrest me) to get the upright scans. I sent them to The Chiari Institute in Long Island, and was approved by a team of neurosurgeons for surgery immediately. They said I was probably a year away from seizures and strokes, and possible death.
The 7-hour surgery was brutal, including removing a portion of my skull, and re-building and bolting my upper cervical spine to my skull to make more room for my brain. The main symptoms have been relieved, but 30+ years of holding my head in the wrong position has caused neck and back muscle problems I’m still suffering from 2 years post-op.
And yeah, I still get headaches. But I have a neck brace and meds, and a freezer FULL of ice packs.
If ANYONE can get in touch with the designer of this informative and beautiful infographic, could you please pass along my request to add Chiari headaches? Thank you!!!