Massage therapy is effective at relieving migraine, according to newly completed research that looked at both precipitating and relieving factors for migraine and tension-type headache.

For this cross-sectional study, investigators set out to determine the differences of precipitating and relieving factors between migraine and tension-type headache. They reviewed the records of 250 migraine patients and 250 patients diagnosed as tension type headache, according to an abstract published on www.pubmed.gov.

Among the results:

• precipitating factors, including stress, anxiety, activity, journeying, reading, and exposure to cold and warm temperatures were common to both migraine and tension-type headache.

• significant difference was demonstrated regarding some precipitating factors, which were common to migraine sufferers alone, and included fatigue, sleep deprivation, sunlight and food sensitivity.

• Sleep, rest and changes in posture were used by both groups to relieve pain.

• Analgesic drugs and massage therapy were both found to have the greatest pain-relieving effect on migraine.

“Precipitating and relieving factors of migraine versus tension type headache” was published in BMC Neurology and conducted by investigators at Dhaka Medial College, in Dhaka, Bangladesh.

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