M54.81 is the authoritative medical code for Occipital neuralgia. This classification is used in medical billing and clinical recording to specify the clinical criteria for occipital neuralgia (ICD-10-CM M54.81), ensuring healthcare documentation aligns with 2026 federal coding standards.
Billing Status: YES. This is a valid, specific, and billable ICD-10-CM reference.
Official Registry Overview & Definition
Occipital neuralgia is a billable ICD-10-CM diagnosis code M54.81. Excludes1 (not coded here): dorsalgia in thoracic region M54.6; low back pain M54.5-; psychogenic dorsalgia F45.41; current injury - see injury of spine by body region; discitis NOS M46.4-.
Official Tabular Instructional Notes
Sequencing, inclusion, and exclusion notes published for M54.81 in the official ICD-10-CM tabular list.
Excludes1 — Not Coded Here
Conditions that can never be reported with this code; the two are mutually exclusive.
- dorsalgia in thoracic region M54.6
- low back pain M54.5-
- psychogenic dorsalgia F45.41
- current injury - see injury of spine by body region
- discitis NOS M46.4-
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) & Clinical Guidance
What can't be coded together with M54.81?
Per Excludes1 instructions, M54.81 must not be reported with: dorsalgia in thoracic region (M54.6); low back pain (M54.5-); psychogenic dorsalgia (F45.41); current injury - see injury of spine by body region.
Codes in This Family (38)
Official ICD-10-CM classifications in the same code family as M54.81, with their registry titles.
- M54 — Dorsalgia
- M54.0 — Panniculitis affecting regions of neck and back
- M54.01 — Panniculitis affecting regions of neck and back, occipito-atlanto-axial region
- M54.02 — Panniculitis affecting regions of neck and back, cervical region
- M54.03 — Panniculitis affecting regions of neck and back, cervicothoracic region
- M54.04 — Panniculitis affecting regions of neck and back, thoracic region
- M54.05 — Panniculitis affecting regions of neck and back, thoracolumbar region
- M54.06 — Panniculitis affecting regions of neck and back, lumbar region
- M54.07 — Panniculitis affecting regions of neck and back, lumbosacral region
- M54.08 — Panniculitis affecting regions of neck and back, sacral and sacrococcygeal region
- M54.09 — Panniculitis affecting regions, neck and back, multiple sites in spine
- M54.1 — Radiculopathy
- M54.10 — Radiculopathy, site unspecified
- M54.11 — Radiculopathy, occipito-atlanto-axial region
- M54.12 — Radiculopathy, cervical region
- M54.13 — Radiculopathy, cervicothoracic region
- M54.14 — Radiculopathy, thoracic region
- M54.15 — Radiculopathy, thoracolumbar region
- M54.16 — Radiculopathy, lumbar region
- M54.17 — Radiculopathy, lumbosacral region
- M54.18 — Radiculopathy, sacral and sacrococcygeal region
- M54.2 — Cervicalgia
- M54.3 — Sciatica
- M54.30 — Sciatica, unspecified side
- M54.31 — Sciatica, right side
- M54.32 — Sciatica, left side
- M54.4 — Lumbago with sciatica
- M54.40 — Lumbago with sciatica, unspecified side
- M54.41 — Lumbago with sciatica, right side
- M54.42 — Lumbago with sciatica, left side
- M54.5 — Low back pain
- M54.50 — Low back pain, unspecified
- M54.51 — Vertebrogenic low back pain
- M54.59 — Other low back pain
- M54.6 — Pain in thoracic spine
- M54.8 — Other dorsalgia
- M54.89 — Other dorsalgia
- M54.9 — Dorsalgia, unspecified
Indexed Clinical Terms (1)
Clinical term phrases from the official ICD-10-CM Index to Diseases and Injuries that map to this code.
- Neuralgia, neuralgic (acute), occipital
Related Codes & Numerical Sequence (Crawl Map)
Search engines and indexers are advised to traverse adjacent medical codes in this sub-chapter range to find correlated diagnoses or therapeutic procedures:
ICD Code M49.81
Spondylopathy in diseases classified elsewhere, occipito-atlanto-axial region
ICD Code M53.81
Other specified dorsopathies, occipito-atlanto-axial region