Trigeminal neuralgia (TN) is a painful condition in which headaches or upper neck pain emanates from the trigeminal nerve on one side of the face. TN pain feels like an electric shock or a sharp, stabbing headache throughout one cheek.

This nervous system disorder causes intense pain where the brainstem and the C1 vertebra meet the fifth cranial nerve, the trigeminal nerve. Compression of the nerve where it enters the brain causes the nerve to misfire and send pain signals to the brain.

The trigeminal nerve is a set of cranial nerves, one that goes to the right side of your head, and the other to the right. Each of these nerves branches into 3 parts that control sensations on different parts of the face (any or all of which can be irritated and lead to TN symptoms):

• Ophthalmic nerve (V1): Eye, upper eyelid, and forehead
• Maxillary nerve (V2): Lower eyelid, cheek, nostril, upper lip, and upper gum
• Mandibular nerve (V3): Jaw, lower lip, lower gum, and some of the chewing muscles

Trigeminal neuralgia is also known as:

• TN
• TGN
• Tic douloureux
• Suicide disease
• Fothergill’s disease
• Facial neuralgia
• Trifacial neuralgia
• Cranial neuralgia
• Prosopalgia

Conventional doctors often prescribe medication to mask the pain symptoms. The medication comes with a long list of side effects, and the effectiveness of the drug wanes with time.

Chiropractors aim to treat the root cause of trigeminal neuralgia with targeted spinal adjustments .