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Abstract:
Objectives
Menstrual migraine is a common complaint of patients in a doctor’s practice. To date, the appraisal methods and therapeutic options for such headaches are only on medicinal level.
This prompted us to conduct a clinical study to measure the effectiveness of os-teopathic treatment for menstrual migraine.
Method
A group of 30 women between the ages of 23 and 52 with at least a six-month his-tory of menstrual migraine were invited to participate in the controlled study. An initial evaluation of pain experienced and quality of life with VAS and SF-36 was followed by a waiting period of eight weeks. The patients whose symptom profile had remained unchanged were accepted into the study. After four osteopathic treatments, the symptom profile was evaluated again with VAS and SF-36, and the pre- and post-treatment profiles compared.
Results
The comparison of pre- and post-treatment profiles revealed a 52% reduction in perceived pain. There were also highly significant improvements with respect to quality of life, with a 40% reduction in physical pain, a 28.3% improvement in physical function, and 14% improvement each in perceived state of health and vitality. Emotional components such as social functionality (23%), emotional func-tion (24%) and psychological well-being (24%) all registered considerable im-provement.
Conclusion
Although only 30 women participated in the study, we identified a highly significant improvement in pain levels and quality of life.
To date, the standard therapies for menstrual migraine were limited to the medici-nal dimension. Such treatments were not wholly satisfactory, particularly given the side effects that the medications can have.
The holistic osteopathic method brought significant improvement without any side effects. Thus, our experience establishes that osteopathy can play a significant role in the treatment of menstrual migraine.
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