A case-control study of visually evoked postural responses in childhood with primary headaches

Visually Evoked Postural Responses (VEPRs) in Children with Vestibular Migraine

“…The reliance on static visual cues for postural control, so-called ‘visual dependency’, is not only present in adults with vestibular disorders [ 28 ] but also in healthy children under 16 years and adolescents [ 29 ]. This study documented the increase of ‘visual dependency’ in children with VM in accordance with previous studies of children with M [ 11 ] and adults with VM [ 13 ]. This study, however, showed that dynamic visual cues, such as those generated by OKN-S, are responsible for a destabilization of posture significantly greater in the two pathological groups than in controls and documented a further increase in children with VM relative to those with M.…”

“…It is generally accepted that the slow and fast phases of the OKN reflex consist of ocular pursuit and saccades, respectively, and abnormalities in both of these have been reported in children with vestibular migraine perhaps due to a central vestibular dysfunction [ 25 ]. The increase of postural instability in children with M and VM in response to OKN-S recalls previous results both in children [ 11 ] and adults [ 12 , 13 , 14 ]. The exact mechanism of these abnormal VEPRs is not known bus some experiments suggested an altered interaction between visual and vestibular cortical networks [ 12 , 30 ].…”

“…Static posturography was performed by a standardized stabilometric force platform (Svep-Politecnica). Technical data and procedure details are described in previous studies [ 11 , 20 ]. Briefly, the displacements of the centre of pressure (COP) that roughly correspond to the projection of the body centre of gravity to the ground were continuously registered during a period of 52 s with a sampling frequency of 50 Hz, and the resulting sway path, the so-called statokinesigram (SKG), was recorded ( Figure 1 ).…”

“…It is known that sensitivity to repeated, moving full-field visual scenes and motion is frequently reported in children with vestibular disorders and migraine [ 10 ]. A previous case–control study in children with migraine without vestibular symptoms suggested abnormal visually-evoked postural responses (VEPRs) with respect to healthy subjects when exposed to a full-field horizontal optokinetic stimulation (OKN-S) [ 11 ]. In addition, adult patients with both migraine (M) and VM exhibited a greater instability induced by OKN-S in the interictal period than healthy subjects [ 12 , 13 ].…”

A pilot study on non-invasive treatment of migraine: The self-myofascial release

“…3 We investigated posture, general upper limbs strength and ROM because cervical musculoskeletal impairments and balance disorders are often impaired function in headache sufferers. 4,5 Migraine is a CNS disorder that involves some neurotransmitters and some pain circuits and is part of the larger class of "primary headaches", which indicate all types of pain at the head of a benign type, characterized by the lack of real pathology in other words it is a recognizable organic cause; migraine is a common disorder of neurovascular system, characterized by disabling and recurrent headache, commonly referred unilateral. Even if we do not know the exact mechanism of the headache, it is known that the triggering factors are numerous.…”