Except perhaps for head colds, headaches and migraines are probably the most common human ailment. Three out of four Americans had a headache or a migraine during the past year, according to the National Headache Foundation. Usually, headaches are merely passing annoyances that go away with aspirin or after a nap, but as many as 45 million people suffer from chronic and/or severe headaches or migraines that seriously interfere with their lives.

Physical therapy for Migraine Headaches

The goal of physical therapy is to relieve migraine attack, by improving cerebral circulation and decreasing irritability of the dura.

Manual Therapy for Migraine Headaches

1. Massage therapy
2. Mobilization of cervical spine
3. Acupressure/Auricular Therapy

Exercises for Migraine Headaches

1. Daily exercise program
2. Stretching exercises

Modalities for Migraine Headaches

1. Transcranial magnetic stimulation
2. Diadynamic therapy
3. Interferential therapy
4. Warm foot bath
5. Short-wave therapy

More on Headaches and Migraines...

Migraine Headache Description

All told, headaches and migraines account for 80 million of all doctors' office visits and more than 400 million dollars spent on over-the-counter pain relievers each year. Like colds, headaches are not completely understood by scientists. There appears to be various types of headaches and migraines, but any hard and fast classification is open to debate, in part, because the types often overlap - both in symptoms and in response to medication. Moreover, triggering factors and modes of relief vary from person to person. Still, the great majority of primary headaches (those not due to underlying diseases) falls into three categories, according to the International Headache Society: tension headache, migraine headache and cluster headache.

Migraine is a neurological disease characterized by intense reccurent headaches. This is chronic illness which can last from hours to days and vary from a rare episodes to continuous severe headache requaring emergency treatment.

Migraine headache is localized on one or both sides of the head and might be associated with photophobia, nausea, vomiting. Pain is pulsating or throbing, and often worsens with physical activity. There are two types of migraine — classic migraine with aura (four phases - prodrome, aura, pain and postaura) or common migraine - without aura.

The simplest treatment, applying warm/hot water or cold water soaked cloths to the affected area of head, is contradictory: hot or cold can either increase or decrease pain, though its consistent in the same patient. A particular migraine rescue drug may sometimes work and sometimes not work in the same patient. Some migraine types don't have pain or don't occur in the head.

Migraine Headache Diagnosis

Based on history and physical examination. Patients are told to try identifying triggers for their migraine by looking for associations. Vision tests, head CT and MRI performed to exclude other pathology which could also cause a headache.

 

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