Tension-type headache in patients with concomitant musculoskeletal disorders
Authors: Novikov Yu. O. , Salakhov I. E. 
Published: February 2020

Introduction. According to the defi nition of the World Health Organization (WHO), tension-type headache (TTH) is the most common type of primary headache. Rehabilitation of patients with chronic tension-type headache continues to be an important socio-medical problem. Its main goal is the most complete restoration of the functions of the musculoskeletal system of the neck, the correction of vascular and psychoemotional problems, and the patient′s return to his everyday life and work. As a rule, the main emphasis in the treatment of such patients is placed primarily on drug therapy. At the same time, practitioners are faced with a number of problems — the low effectiveness of the treatment, the nonpersistency of the results, allergic reactions, polypharmacy and others. All this suggests that there is a need for differentiated rehabilitation treatment of patients with tension-type headache with the use of various non-pharaceutical methods. The goal of research — to evaluate the clinical effi cacy of complex non-drug therapy in patients with tension-type headache.

Materials and methods. The prospective controlled randomized study, which was conducted from October 2017 to March 2019 at the Department of Medical Rehabilitation of the Bashkir State Medical University, included 110 patients with TTH from the age of 20 to 45 years. All patients, depending on the treatment methodology used, were randomly divided into two groups of 55 people. Patients of the main group received complex rehabilitation treatment with the use of non-drug methods: osteopathic correction, acupuncture and exercise therapy. Patients in the control group received treatment in accordance with the standard of medical care for TTH (analgesics, non-steroidal antiinfl ammatory drugs, antidepressants, vasoactive and nootropic drugs). The study of the clinical effectiveness of the therapy included: an assessment of the severity of pain with the use of a visual analogue scale and a tensoalgimeter, a goniometric study with an assessment of the volume of active movements in the cervical spine, transcranial ultrasound dopplerography with an assessment of quantitative indicators in the system of the middle cerebral artery.

Results. The use of complex non-drug therapy in patients with TTH compared with standard drug therapy leads to a signifi cantly more important decrease in the severity of pain, an increase in pain threshold, an increase in the volume of active movements in the cervical spine. The effect of non-drug treatment methods on blood fl ow in the system of the middle cerebral artery is comparable in its effectiveness with the use of pharmaceutical drugs.

Conclusion. The proposed complex rehabilitation treatment of patients with TTH with the use of non-drug methods has shown clinical effi cacy which is comparable, and in a number of indicators, superior to the effectiveness of conventional medical treatment. All this determines the necessity of wider implementation of multidisciplinary non-drug treatment of patients with this pathology.