Comparison of upper posterior neck muscles strength in healthy and chronic tension headache women

Tension-type headache (TTH) is the most common type of headache in different societies. TTH is a prototypical headache in which myofascial pain of neck muscles can play an important etiological role. Weakness of upper posterior muscles of neck is a common accompaniment of myofascial pain in this region. Thus the purpose of this study was to compare the strength of upper posterior neck muscles in women with chronic tension headache and healthy women. The strength of superior-posterior neck muscles in 33 women (16 chronic tension headache and 17 healthy individuals) were examined by The Power meter. An independent t-test was used to analyze the data and compare the groups. Results showed a significant difference between women with chronic tension headache and healthy ones (p=0. 021). The results also showed inverse relationship between intensity of pain and the strength. (r=-0. 65، p=0. 006) According to the results of this study, women with chronic tension headache had lower posterior upper cervical muscles strength than healthy controls. These results may reflect a disturbance in the upper posterior neck muscles musculoskeletal system in the patients which may be primary to TTH or secondary and as a result of TTH. Further studies are required to extend our knowledge in this area.