Efficacy of Non-Pharmacological interventions in patients with cervicogenic headache. A Systematic Review.

Abstract text (incl. figure legends and references)

Question

Are non-pharmacological interventions effective in improving symptoms in patients suffering from cervicogenic headach?

Methods

We performed an electronic search through various databases, and following PRISMA statement guidelines: PubMed, Cochrane central register of clinical trials, Web of science and Embase. We examined articles against the inclusion criteria to include only randomized clinical trials. Data of included articles were extracted and reviewed.

Results

14 randomized clinical trial Met our criteria and included in the study. Due to the significant heterogeneity, we could not perform meta-analysis for the included studies. Various modalities found to be used to manage cervicogenic headache as spinal manipulation, mobilization, ischemic compression, myofascial release and exercises. Our results revealed that these interventions showed significant improvement in relation to headache frequency and intensity, range of movement of cervical rotation, pressure pain threshold (P < 0.001, p < 0.05) respectively.

Conclusion

Non-pharmacological interventions show promising results in reducing the severity of symptoms and improving quality of life in patients with cervicogenic headache. However, there is no supporting evidence regarding the use of such modalities because of the wide variability among interventions parameters. In addition, more high quality randomized clinical trials with larger sample size and objective measurement tools are required to synthesize a clear evidence.