Is performance in goal oriented head movements altered in patients with tension type headache?

Abstract

BackgroundHead repositioning tasks have been used in different experimental and clinical contexts to quantitatively measure motor control performance. Effects of pain on sensorimotor control have often been described in various musculoskeletal conditions and may provide relevant information with regard to potential mechanisms underlying tension-type headaches. The purpose of the current study was to compare the performance of patients with tension-type headache and healthy participants in a cervical aiming task using the Fitts’ task paradigm.MethodsPatients with tension-type headache and healthy controls were compared in a cervical aiming task. Participants were asked to move their head as quickly, and precisely as possible to a target under various experimental conditions. Dependent variables included movement time, variable error, constant error and absolute error.ResultsAs predicted by Fitts’ law, decreasing target size and increasing head rotation amplitudes yielded longer movement times in both groups. Participants with tension-type headache, when compared to healthy participants showed a significant increase in both constant and absolute errors for each of the four conditions.ConclusionDecreased motor performance was observed in participants with tension-type headache, likely due to altered motor control of the neck musculature. Future research is warranted to investigate the clinical aspect related to decrease in motor performance.

International consensus on the most useful physical examination tests used by physiotherapists for patients with headache: A Delphi study

“…examination tests (Lous and Olesen 1982;Langemark and Olesen 1987;Bovim 1992;Hatch et al 1992;Garrett et al 1993;Jensen et al 1993;Kidd and Nelson 1993;Watson and Trott 1993;Jensen 1996;Lipchik et al 1996;Sand et al 1997;Zwart 1997;Ashina et al 1999;Jull et al 1999Jull et al , 2007Neufeld et al 2000;Dumas et al 2001;Mørk et al 2003;Giacomini et al 2004;Fernández-de-las-Peñas et al 2006;Fernández-de-Las-Peñas et al 2006a, 2006b, 2007Sandrini et al 2006;Zito et al 2006;Amiri et al 2007;Glaros et al 2007Glaros et al , 2007Ogince et al 2007;Hall et al 2008Hall et al , 2010Hall et al , 2010Bevilaqua-Grossi et al 2009;Peddireddy et al 2009;Uthaikhup et al 2009;Sohn et al 2010Sohn et al , 2013Stuginski-Barbosa et al 2010;Melo et al 2012;Watson and Drummond 2012;Marchand et al 2014;Tali et al 2014). …”

Osteopathic Correction in Treating Patients With Tension Headache Symptom Against TMJ Dysfunction

“…Inflammation of the joint and the surrounding muscles leads to the temporomandibular joint displacement, thus causing tension in the main masticatory muscles (pterygoid lateral, pterygoid medial, masticatory and temporal). As a result, there appears pain in the head caused by muscle tension [3,9,13,15]. Treatment of tension headaches in orthodox medicine is mainly seen from the standpoint of medication treatment, which proves ineffective in case HAT is caused by the TMJ dysfunction -a powerful factor of the trigeminal nerve irritation.…”

Head Rotation Movement Times

“…The second type is use of Fitts’ law in measuring the performance of people with various cervical spine problems and other such difficulties. This category includes the work of Descarreaux, Passmore, and Cantin (2010); Marchand, Cantin, Murphy, Stern, and Descarreaux (2014); and Passmore and colleagues (Passmore & Burke, 2007; Passmore, Burke, Good, Lyon, & Dunn, 2010). The third form of experiment is of a very practical nature whereby head movements have been studied for specific device operation (van der Heijden et al, 1997; Pereira et al, 2009).…”

“…The Fitts’ paradigm has been used by a number of researchers in order to determine the effects of various physical effects, such as old age (Passmore & Burke, 2007), tension headaches (Marchand et al, 2014), neck pain (Descarreaux et al, 2010), and the effects of using chiropractic to improve head motion (Passmore et al, 2010). In each of these experiments, the MT relationship of Fitts’ law has been found to give a useful measure of the effects being studied, with significant changes in the studied variable.…”