Prevent Disease.com - Common Headache Relief Methods Rarely Effective



		Common Headache Relief Methods Rarely Effective LONDON (Reuters Health) - Many people use techniques such as massage, heat, cold or compression to relieve headache pain, but these methods are rarely effective, Italian researchers report. Dr. Giorgio Zanchin from the University of Padua, Italy, and colleagues note that ancient Egyptian papyruses mention bandaging the head to relieve headache, and reports on using hot or cold compresses for migraine date back to the 19th century. To investigate the effectiveness of such age-old strategies, Zanchin and colleagues collected data on 400 patients with headache. There was an even distribution in the number of patients with migraine preceded by the visual symptoms known as an aura, migraine without an aura, tension headaches and cluster headaches, according to the report in the September issue of Cephalalgia. Cluster headaches occur in cycles, with periods of once- or twice-daily headaches alternating with headache-free periods. Among the 400 patients, 258 used various self-administered pain relief techniques during a headache attack. Compression was the most commonly used (30%), followed by application of cold (27%), massage (25%) and application of heat (8%), the researchers report. Patients reported a total of 382 different pain-relief techniques. Some less common techniques, mainly used by people suffering from cluster headaches, included smoking cigarettes, self-induced vomiting and closing one nostril. Zanchin and colleagues found a significant relationship between the type of headache and the pain relief method used. Those who had migraine without aura were most likely to use cold and compression on the forehead and temples, while patients with migraine with aura were more likely to use compression on the forehead. Patients with tension headaches preferred massage on the temples and nape of the neck, while patients with cluster headaches used all of the techniques, with none preferred over the others, Zanchin's group found. Most techniques proved to be ineffective, with only 8% resulting in good or excellent pain relief. And the pain relief was usually temporary, lasting only as long as the technique continued. ``However, in all four groups of headache patients studied, there remains, beyond any possible interpretation, an almost ritual component, that nourishes the use of manoeuvres, so much so that the frequency of use does not necessarily correlate with the measure of pain relief obtained,'' Zanchin and colleagues conclude. SOURCE: Cephalalgia 2001;21:718-726. Reference Source 89 For more information on how to prevent other diseases, use PreventDisease.com's "Quick Prevention Resources".