The scalp has nerves which are mapped by the brain as coming from the scalp but there are almost no muscles of significance in the scalp. The normal pain of a headache or pain in the scalp region is usually due to irritation of those nerves in that area being irritated along their path prior to entering the spine.

The phantom limb phenomenon is a person's ability to feel their limb (i.e. foot) even though the limb (leg) has been amputated. This is due to the nature of nerves to run the full length from their starting point to their next junction at the spine. Any place along that path that the nerve is stimulated (irritated) the full nerve signal is initiated and sent to the brain. The brain maps that nerve as having started at a certain point even though the actual starting point is no longer there. Therefore the pain is "felt" as coming from the non-existant foot.

This same principle is why pain is felt in the scalp, temples, forehead when the nerves that start there actually are being irritated as they pass through the muscles at the back of the neck before they enter the spine. To deal with this pain the proper treatment is NOT at the point of pain in the scalp but at the point of irritation in the neck muscles.

Go to the Muscles in the Back of the Neck.