Head Henry

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Henry Head was born in England in 1861, the eldest son of a Quaker family. He was educated in the natural sciences, including biology, histology and physiology. As Germany was a leader in scientific medicine and research at the time, he spent time studying in Berlin and Halle with Julius Bernstein (1839-1917), Wilhelm His (1831-1904) in Leipzig and for two years in Prague with Ewald Hering (1834-1918).

As part of his medical training, his curiosity for infectious diseases such as scarlet fever and shingles was awakened, but he also studied respiration, cardiopulmonary diseases and color vision. Back in England, he went to the University College Hospital in London from 1886 to 1890 and practiced at the National Hospital, Queen Square. He worked as a neurologist at Rainhill Asylum, Lancashire. Michael Foster (1836-1907), John Langley (1852-1925), Walter Gaskell (1847-1914), Charles Sherrington (1857-1952) at Trinity College, Cambridge and John Hughlings Jackson (1835-1911), whose successor he became in 1894, were involved in his later training. Head took early retirement in 1919 when symptoms of Parkinson's disease became apparent. Henry Head died in 1940.

Henry Head was rightly regarded as one of the most important neurologists in the world at the beginning of the 20th century. Today, his name is primarily associated with the Head zones, even though the first descriptions of them were not written by him. However, his groundbreaking work was in the field of regeneration after peripheral nerve lesions and in the characterization of dermatomes. His later work in neuropsychology reflects the opposing positions (localizationist vs. holistic) in the interpretation of higher brain functions at that time. Today they are considered largely outdated and are only of historical significance.

At the beginning of the 20th century, Henry Head was rightly regarded as one of the most important neurologists in the world. Today, his name is primarily associated with the Head zones, even though the first descriptions of them were not his. However, his groundbreaking work was in the field of regeneration after peripheral nerve lesions and in the characterization of dermatomes. His later work in neuropsychology reflects the opposing positions (localizationist vs. holistic) in the interpretation of higher brain functions at that time. Today they are considered largely outdated and are only of historical significance.

From a neurological point of view, Head is important for two reasons: his self-experiment in 1909 to damage and subsequently regenerate one of his own peripheral nerves was heroic. It has helped generations of neurologists to better understand the pathophysiology of peripheral nerve damage and thus to better assess the prognosis of such injuries. Head's second contribution relates to radicular organization at the level of the spinal cord. The pathophysiology of herpes zoster radiculitis enabled him to develop the concept of dermatomes on the basis of preliminary work around 1900. Henry Head's contribution consisted of systematically compiling the existing publications of his time and adding his own cases.

Towards the end of the 19th century, Head worked as a scientist in various countries. During this time, he wrote the treatise "On disturbances of sensation with special reference to the pain of visceral disease". In it, he dealt with hyperalgesic skin zones in various diseases of the internal organs. During this time, Head examined patients suffering from a disease of the internal organs by stroking the skin with the head of a pin. He then asked them to report where this stimulus was perceived as painful. With the help of these findings, he created topographical maps in which certain organ diseases were assigned characteristic zones of cutaneous hyperalgesia - the actual head zones. Within the hyperalgesia zones, he found small areas where patients felt the most pain. These areas are referred to as maximum points.

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