Effectiveness of Massage on Intensity and Frequency of Headache in Women

Tension headache is the most common type of headache. Tension headache is mostly caused by stress, anxiety and depression. The treatment of this type of headache is achieved by pharmacological and non-pharmacological methods. Drugs used in its treatment can predispose to over use, side effects and increased costs. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of massage in the treatment of chronic tension headache. This research is semi-experimental study in which 25 women suffering from chronic tension headache were treated by massage during a 5-week period. During the intervention the subjects were massaged on their posterior parts of the neck and shoulders for 20 minutes twice a week and were asked to record their headache indexes four times a day on a checklist. Headache indexes included: intensity and frequency of headache and quantity of analgesics taken. Headache intensity was recorded by an 11-point criterion. The collected data from the second, third and fourth weeks of investigation were recorded as the data of ongoing intervention. While those collected from weeks 1 and 5 were considered as pre and post-treatment values. The headache indexes showed a meaningful difference in the three stages of per, during and post intervention (p<0.01). Consequently the recovery rates for each index was 52%, 39% and 57% respectively. Massage therapy influences the intensity, frequency and quantity of analgesic intake in chronic tension headache and can cause faster recovery or reduce the intensity of tension headache.