Supraorbital electrical stimulation in management of chronic type tension headache: A randomized controlled study.

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: Headache disorders are considered one of the ten most disabling conditions, for both males and females, according to the World Health Organization. Chronic type tension headache (CTTH) has a prevalence of 2-3% within the general population. The purpose of this research was to investigate the effect of stimulating noninvasively the trigeminal nerve in the supraorbital area (SOES) for treatment of CTTH.

METHODS

In an 8-week period of intervention, 45 patients were divided equally into three groups. Both group A "study" and group B received conventional physical therapy program three times a week. Group A received additional SOES for 20 minutes daily. Group C was on prescribed medications only. Assessments occurred pre and post intervention using Headache Impact Test (HIT), headache frequency, and visual analogue scale (VAS) for pain.

RESULTS

In between groups, comparison showed statistically significant differences between all groups (p < 0.000). Within-group comparisons showed that both groups A and B showed a significant improvement in all measured data. Improvement percent of group A was HIT = 18.4% and VAS = 63.0%, p ≤ 0.0001, and group B was HIT = 12.5% and VAS = 28.2%, p ≤ 0.0002, while group C showed no significant improvement with improvement percent HIIT = 1.2% and VAS = 8.6%, p ≤ 0.5. Patients in groups A and B reported less headache frequencies than group C.

CONCLUSION

SOES had positive therapeutic results for treatment of CTTH.