Headache Analysis and Intervention

Summary

Diagnosing and treating posture-related headache (PRH), such as tension-type and cervicogenic headache, is seriously hampered because of common features and complex interaction of the neurological and musculoskeletal system. Current therapies are therefore not as effective and the population of patients with PRH keeps on increasing. The diagnostic as well as the therapeutic process need more structure in order to select the most effective treatment; thereby contributing to preventive measures. This goal can be achieved through fundamental research with a clinically oriented background. Our study starts from a clinical problem, with a growing incidence, and is therefore highly relevant. Because sitting-posture seems to play an important role in PRH, the first step in the diagnostic process is to analyse postural differences between a PRH- and a control-group. In addition, the role of the dura mater in the headache-process will be examined. Patients with PRH will be classified in homogeneous groups based on these results. In a second phase individual-specific treatment programs will be composed. The general treatment-approach of postural abnormalities in the past failed because of the heterogeneous patient-populations. Sub-classifying musculoskeletal problems has been proven to be successful in the past (O'Sullivan \& Dankaerts, non-specific low back pain).

Our study is divided in 2 phases:

* phase 1: profile analysis (no intervention, experimental headache-group vs. asymptomatic controls)
* phase 2: interventional phase (clustered headache-groups, based on the results of phase 1

Conditions

• Headache

Interventions

OTHER

Individual Profile Analysis (Physical therapy Intervention)

The Individual Profile Analysis consists of the following components: * Analysis of the sitting-posture profile: o cervical spine, thoracic spine, lumbar spine and pelvis during a longitudinal provoking task (working at a laptop). * Analysis of the dural profile before and after the provoking task: o Determination of the dural sensitivity by the use of the slump-test * Analysis of the pain profile before and after the provoking task: * Determination of pressure pain sensitivity by the use of pressure algometry * Determination of the influence of pain on the quality of life by the use of the HIT-6 questionnaire

Sponsors & Collaborators

• KU Leuven

  collaborator OTHER

• Ziekenhuis Oost-Limburg

  collaborator OTHER

• Jessa Hospital

  collaborator OTHER

• Orbisch Medisch Centrum

  collaborator UNKNOWN

• Zuyd University of Applied Sciences

  collaborator OTHER

• Algemeen Ziekenhuis Vesalius

  collaborator OTHER

• Hasselt University

  lead OTHER

Study Design

Allocation

NON_RANDOMIZED

Purpose

DIAGNOSTIC

Masking

SINGLE

Model

PARALLEL

Eligibility

Min Age

20 Years

Max Age

50 Years

Sex

ALL

Healthy Volunteers

Yes

Timeline & Regulatory

Start

2018-01-08

Primary Completion

2020-05-18

Completion

2020-05-18

Countries

• Belgium
• Netherlands

Study Locations