Effect of relaxation on frequency and severity of migraine headache.

Introduction . Migraine headaches are a commo n ne urologic disorder that physicians frequently encounte r in th eir practice. The y can be disabling, lead ing to the individu al's suffering if not tre at ed appro priately a nd qui ckly. There is a variety of medica tion s a nd tre atment approac hes tha t can be use d to re lieve pain. T h e aim of this study wa s to investigat e the effect of progres sive mus cle rel axation (P.M.R), which is slowly muscle contraction and deep re laxatio n, on patien ts suffe ring fro m migraine headaches. Material and Methods. Thirty one students and staff of Semnan un iversity of medical science s wh o wer e a ffec ted by c la ssic mig rain e par ti cip a ted in t his s tudy. T hey performed a muscl e relaxation training program (M.R.T .P) fo r a period o f 6 weeks. Tota l he a d ache activ ity a nd migra in e intens ity during 6 weeks befo re MRTP a nd 6 weeks wi t hin th e MRTP we re recorded usin g a n ca tegor ica l verba l ra t ing sca le by patient. Results. The compar ison of d at a befor e a nd a fter r el ax ati o n the rapy sh owed tha t r el axa t io n treatment sign ificantly (P < 0.001) reduced total heada ch e sum and inte ns ity scores of tot al head ache ac tivity. Conclusion. T h e f in di n gs in di cat e th at MRTP is a n a p p ro p r ia te me thod fo r treatment of migraine headache with out any side effects, which ca n be found