Global osteopathic treatment in the therapy of patients with chronic tension headache
Authors: Belash V. O. , Bruk I. I. 
Published: June 2020

Introduction. Headache is one of the most common outpatient complaints from patients. According to various authors, annually 90 % of adult women and 83 % of adult men suffer from headaches; its frequency reaches 200 cases per 1000 population and does not tend to decrease. Herewith the tension headache (TH) is the most common variant of headaches in the general population. Modern methods of tension headache treating suggest the long-term use of antidepressants and muscle relaxants. And it may not give a lasting effect in some cases. Also, due to the small number of TH diagnoses by doctors among the population, people have to save themselves from a headache. As a result, the majority of the population suffering from TH takes analgesics uncontrollably. It fi nally leads to another severe type of headache — abusal headache. All these dictate the necessary of searching new methods of treatment, primarily non-medication, one of which could be osteopathy.

The goal of research— to evaluate the clinical efficacy of the global osteopathic treatment of patients with tension headache.

Materials and methods. A prospective, controlled, randomized trial was performed from 01.2018 to 03.2019 on the basis of the «Clinic of Regenerative Medicine» (Shakhty town) and V. I. Lenin MBUZ GBSMP. There were of 36 patients with a verifi ed diagnosis of chronic tension headache aged 20 to 40 years under supervision. Patients depending on the used treatment methodology were divided by the simple randomization method (using the envelopes method) into two groups: the main (20 people) and control (16 people). Patients of the main group received traditional therapy including medication, massage of the back and cervical-collar zone, physical exercises, and physiotherapy treatment. And in addition to these treatment methods patients of the main group received global osteopathic treatment, 3 procedures with an interval of 5–7 days. Patients in the control group received only standart therapy according to the same described above scheme. All the patients, regardless of the group, underwent an osteopathic examination before and after the course of therapy, with the formation of an osteopathic conclusion, and the severity of pain and asthenia was assessed.

Results. The decreasing of regional and local somatic dysfunctions quantity in patients of the main group was observed during the treatment. Statistically signifi cant differences were obtained in the occurrence frequencies of somatic dysfunctions: region of the head, region of the neck, region of the dura mater; vertebral-motor segments СVII–DIII, abdominal diaphragm, I rib (p<0,05). A statistically signifi cant decrease in the pain severity and asthenic conditions (p<0,05) was also recorded after the treatment in the main group. There were no signifi cant changes of these indicators in the control patients group.

Conclusion. Based on the study, it can be concluded that osteopathic correction in the complex treatment of patients with chronic tension headache can increase the clinical effectiveness of traditional treatment regimens. The obtained results propose a further deeper study of the osteopathic correction possibilities in the treatment of this patients group.