A pilot study from Italy investigated the influence of osteopathic manipulative treatment on 20 patients with chronic tension headaches and compared the results with the success of traditional treatment methods. Furthermore, forward head posture was utilized as an indicator of treatment success. The results demonstrate a significant improvement in the intensity, frequency, and duration of pain. Head posture was also considerably improved. Osteopathic manipulative treatments proved highly effective and are considered a valuable adjunct to pharmacological treatments in the management of chronic tension headaches.
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Methods: Patients with CTTH (chronic tension-type headache) were registered at the Headache Center of Trieste in Italy. At the time of the study, none of the patients had received headache prophylaxis in the last 3 months. A 3-month baseline period was documented by all patients using an ad hoc diary. Patients were randomly assigned to the test or control group using a simple randomization program in Excel (Microsoft). Patients in the OMTh (osteopathic manipulative therapy) group underwent a 3-month OMTh period, and patients in the control group were treated with amitriptyline. Pain intensity, frequency, and duration of headaches, as well as forward head posture, were analyzed.Results: For the study, 10 patients (mean [SD] age, 42.6 [15.2] years) were included in the OMTh group and 10 patients (51.4 [17.3] years) in the control group. The final evaluation of OMTh patients showed statistically significant changes in all headache parameters: pain intensity decreased from a mean (SD) score of 4.9 (1.4) to 3.1 (1.1) (P=.002); frequency decreased from 19.8 (6) to 8.3 (6.2) days per month (P=.002); and headache duration decreased from 10 (4.2) to 6 (3) hours (P=.01). In the control group, a significant improvement in all parameters was also observed: pain intensity decreased from a mean (SD) score of 5.9 (0.7) to 4.2 (1.75) (P=.03); frequency decreased from 23.4 (7.2) to 7.4 (8.7) days per month (P=.003); and duration decreased from 7.8 (2.9) to 3.6 (2.1) hours (P=.002). Forward head posture improved significantly in OMTh patients (P=.003). Deodato M., Guolo F. et al. Osteopathic Manipulative Therapy in Patients With Chronic Tension-Type Headache: A Pilot Study . J Am Osteopath Assoc 2019; doi:10.7556/jaoa.2019.093
