Treatment of Tension Headache Using Soft Tissue Techniques VS Vagus Stimulation Techniques.

Lucia Trullenque Espallargas

Status: Unknown

Conditions: Episodic Tension-Type Headache; Chronic Tension-Type Headache

Treatments: Other: Diaphragmatic breathing exercice; Other: Ischemic pressure; Other: Suboccipital inhibition; Other: Passive stretching

Study type: Interventional

Funder types: Other

Identifiers

NCT05097300

CEIM/2021/1/017

Details and patient eligibility

About

A treatment based on manual therapy and vagus nerve stimulation is more effective than manual therapy only to reduce frequency, intensity and pressure pain threshold in patients with tension type headache.

Full description

Participants will be randomly assigned to two groups:

• Experimental group, to which soft tissue techniques and vagus nerve stimulation techniques will be applied.
• Control group, to which only soft tissue techniques are applied. Treatment will consist of four sessions, with an interval of seven days between them, for both study groups. Each session with a duration of 20 minutes for both groups.

In the control group, treatment using soft techniques will consist of the application of manual techniques that have already been shown to have some efficacy in other studies.

Enrollment: 42 estimated patients

Sex: All

Ages: 18 to 65 years old

Volunteers: No Healthy Volunteers

Inclusion criteria

• Patients diagnosed with episodic or chronic tension type headache

Exclusion criteria

• Pregnant women
• Patients who have received in the previous 3 months some type of treatment for headache
• Recent history of syncope or seizures
• Heart / cardiovascular disease
• Electrical or neurostimulation devices
• History of intracranial / carotid aneurysm or bleeding; brain tumors / lesions; significant head trauma.
• Change in prophylactic medication type or dose <1 month before the intervention

Trial design

Primary purpose: Treatment

Allocation: Randomized

Interventional model: Parallel Assignment

Masking: Double Blind

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42 participants in 2 patient groups

Manual therapy and vagus nerve stimulation group

Experimental group

Description:

Patients will recibe 4 sessions, each of the duration of 20 minutes. Manual therapy consist in: suboccipital inhibition (during 10 minutes) and ischemic pressure and passive stretching of three muscles (superior trapezius, temporal muscle and sternocleidomastoid muscle). Vagus nerve stimulation will be performed through a diaphragmatic breathing exercise, during 5 minutes, adding neural tension of median nerve.

Treatment:

Other: Diaphragmatic breathing exercice

Other: Ischemic pressure

Other: Passive stretching

Other: Suboccipital inhibition

Manual therapy group

Active Comparator group

Description:

Patients will recibe 4 sessions, each of the duration of 20 minutes. Manual therapy consist in: suboccipital inhibition (during 10 minutes) and ischemic pressure and passive stretching of three muscles (superior trapezius, temporal muscle and sternocleidomastoid muscle).

Treatment:

Other: Ischemic pressure

Other: Passive stretching

Other: Suboccipital inhibition