2.2.1 Frequent episodic tension-type headache associated with pericranial tenderness

A man reports recurrent headache spells that have continued for many years, with the current episode being his fourteenth such spell he can recall. This particular spell has continued for close to four months, during which he estimates headache days on roughly nine occasions each month, totalling around 175 headache days over the preceding year by his reckoning. The pain affects both sides of his head and has a tight, gripping character rather than a pulsing one. Individual headaches typically resolve somewhere between forty minutes and a few days after onset. He reports no bothersome sensitivity to light or to noise during these episodes, and describes neither nausea nor vomiting throughout. He adds that manual pressure over the scalp and posterior neck muscles reliably reproduced tenderness on both sides when he presses there himself.