[A muscle and vascular oriented relaxation program for the treatment of chronic migraine patients. A randomized clinical comparative study]

Abstract

The study compares in a randomized clinical control-group design with a waiting list-and acupuncture therapy control-group the short term (three months) effectiveness of a newly developed psychological biobehavioral treatment program in 30 chronic migraine patients. The results show a significant reduction of vascular and tension related headache-frequency and intensity (primary outcome criteria) in both the acupuncture and psychological treatment condition. The waiting list control-group remained almost unchanged over the whole observation period. The improvement in both treatment conditions remained stable throughout the post therapy period to the three months follow-up, but only the psychological treatment condition revealed a highly significant reduction in the use of all kinds of medication in comparison to the pre-treatment period. Single case analyses showed a slight superiority of the psychological treatment condition over the acupuncture therapy due to a more generalized improvement in all secondary outcome variables (psychological restrictions in every day life, medication, duration of headache). The effect of specific components of the psychological treatment program are examined and possible general implication for a treatment of severely disturbed chronic migraine patients are discussed.