A headache after a crash can feel like one big ache, but it often has edges. Some people feel it across the forehead, some behind one eye, and some low at the back of the skull where the head meets the neck. Knowing where it sits, and how it moves, is one of the most useful things you can bring to an examination. This is not a diagnosis. It is a plain note that helps the person examining you start in the right place.
Many people wait to see whether the headache settles before they say anything about it. A map written during the first few days gives you a record you can compare later, when memory has blurred the details. If you are in the St. Louis metro and deciding whether to get examined this week, you do not need medical vocabulary. You need a clear picture you can describe in a few sentences.
Draw the outline
Take a sheet of paper and sketch a simple head from the side and from the front. Shade the areas that hurt, using a light pencil for mild pain and a darker one for worse pain. Do this once a day, at the same time, for the first several days. A sketch is quicker to read at a front desk than a long paragraph, and it shows change over time without any numbers you have to invent.
Mark the spots you can point to with one finger. Then mark the places that only seem to hurt when you think about them. Keep both, but label them differently. Your examiner will want to know which is which.
Notice how it travels
Headache pain often moves. Draw an arrow when you notice it spreading from the base of the skull up over the top, or from one temple toward the eye. Write the time next to each arrow. A pattern of movement can tell an examiner more than a single spot ever will.
Also note whether the pain stays on one side or crosses to the other. Write whether it feels like pressure, a band, a throb, or a sharp point. Use your own words. 'Tight like a hat' is more useful than a guess at a medical term. Words like mild, moderate, or severe are enough for a daily line.
Check the edges
Write down what sits at the boundary of the ache. Does the pain reach down into the shoulder, up into the scalp, or into the teeth of the upper jaw? Does it start at the neck and climb? Each boundary is a clue about which structures may be involved, and a trained examiner will test those edges with their hands and questions.
Be honest about what you have not checked. If you have not moved your head to see whether the ache changes, say so. A note that lists what you tried and what you did not try is more reliable than one that sounds certain.
Leave out the guesses
It is tempting to write down what you think is causing the headache. Resist that. Write what you feel, where you feel it, and what you noticed before and after. Leave out labels like 'pinched nerve' unless a clinician gave you that word. Guesses in a note can send the first conversation down the wrong path, while a plain description keeps it open.
Keep the story of the crash short on the page. One sentence with the date and what happened is enough. The examiner will ask for more if they need it.
Bring the map
Put the drawings, the arrows, and a short line for each day in one folder. Add one sentence at the top: what happened, when it happened, and where the pain sat first. Hand it over before the examiner starts asking questions, and keep a copy for yourself.
None of this replaces an examination. A sketch cannot show what is happening inside the head or neck, and nobody can read a drawing and name a cause from it. What a map can do is make the first conversation faster and more accurate, so the time with the examiner goes to the parts that matter most.
If your headache is getting worse, or you notice confusion, weakness, trouble speaking, vision changes, or a sudden severe headache, do not wait for a scheduled visit. Seek urgent care right away.