What is occipital?

What Does occipital Mean

The first thing we have to establish is that occipital derives from Latin. Specifically, its etymological origin is found in the Latin word “occiput, occipitis”, which can be translated as “nape”. A word that is the result of the sum of the following lexical components:

-The prefix “ob-”, which can be translated as “against” or “confrontation”.

-The noun “caput”, which is synonymous with “head”.

This is the name of what is linked to the occiput : the area of ​​the head where it comes into contact with the vertebrae of the neck .
The occipital bone shapes the bottom, middle, and back of the skull . With a somewhat rhomboidal structure, it contributes to the formation of the vault and the cranial base.

Convex back and down and concave forward and up, the occipital bone has two faces : an endocranial and an exocranial. The endocranial or anterosuperior aspect maintains a relationship with the encephalic mass, while the exocranial or posteroinferior aspect has the foramen magnum in its inferior sector.
An occipital bow is known as a protrusion that can be found in the occipital bone. This bulge was common in the skull of Homo neanderthalensis and other ancestors of Homo sapiens , but is rare in modern man .
The occipital lobe , meanwhile, is one of the six functional sectors that are recognized in the brain . It is the posterior area of ​​said organ and its function is to produce the images that we see.
Thanks to the occipital lobe, it is possible to process and interpret what is seen. It is also essential for discriminating colors and movements and recognizing space .
The occipital muscle , on the other hand, is found in the posterior region of the head. It covers the epicranium and, in turn, is covered by skin .
The occipital angle , finally, is in the interval of the occipital condyles. It has sides that pass through the lower limit of the orbit and the vertex of the head.
In the same way, we cannot ignore that there is what is called occipital neuralgia. As Arnold's neuralgia is also known, which is a headache in the form of a twinge or cramp in what is the occipital area. Specifically, it can reach up to what is the highest part of the aforementioned head.
Sometimes this neuralgia can be mistaken for a simple migraine and can occur for different reasons. Specifically, among the most frequent causes of this are a cervical trauma, due to an accident or a blow, and even a strong contracture in the muscles that surround what is the occipital area.

When that headache is suffered, the usual thing is for the doctor to establish a treatment that is based on the use of anti-inflammatory drugs. However, you can also resort to what are muscle relaxants. That without overlooking the fact that there are some drugs that prevent precisely this occipital neuralgia.