PLoS ONE (Jan 2023)

Effects of diacutaneous fibrolysis in patients with tension-type headache: A randomized controlled trial.

  • Sara Cabanillas-Barea,
  • Silvia Pérez-Guillén,
  • Carlos López-de-Celis,
  • Jacobo Rodríguez-Sanz,
  • Pablo Fanlo-Mazas,
  • Andoni Carrasco-Uribarren

DOI
https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0273877
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 18, no. 3
p. e0273877

Abstract

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BackgroundManual therapy appears to be effective for the relief of tension-type headache (TTH), just as diacutaneous fibrolysis (DF) has shown to be a beneficial technique for the relief of symptoms in other dysfunctions. However, no studies have evaluated the potential beneficial effect of DF in TTH. The aim of this study is to analyze the effect of three sessions of DF in patients with TTH.MethodsRandomized controlled trial in 86 subjects (43 intervention/ 43 control group). The headache frequency, the headache intensity, the pressure pain thresholds (PPTs) at trapeziometacarpal joint, upper trapezius, suboccipital, frontal and temporal muscles, parietal sutures and the cervical mobility were measured at baseline, at the end of the third intervention and one-month after the last intervention.ResultsStatistically significant differences with p values ConclusionsDF provides a beneficial effect in reducing headache frequency, relieving pain, and improving cervical mobility in patients with TTH.