Tertiary care with or without manual therapy for chronic migraine
Research type
Research Study
Full title
A two-centre pragmatic randomised controlled trial on the effectiveness of manual therapy as an adjunct to tertiary management of chronic migraine
IRAS ID
228901
Contact name
James Odell
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
Bournemouth University
Clinicaltrials.gov Identifier
Clinicaltrials.gov Identifier
Bournemouth 228901, IRAS
Duration of Study in the UK
0 years, 7 months, 1 days
Research summary
People who have more than 15 migraine headaches a month for over 3 months are considered to have chronic migraine. It negatively affects their lives and is a major cost to the National Health Service.
The treatment for chronic migraine is mainly medication, but the evidence is that even the best medications help less than half of people with migraine. Therefore, there is a need to find other ways to help those for whom medicines are not working well and those who cannot, or do not wish to take medication.
We do not know why people get migraines and there is no ‘cure’ that works for everyone. However, we do know that stress can increase the number of migraines and make them worse. Linked to stress can be problems in the muscles and joints, particularly the shoulders and neck.
Manual therapy has been found to help relieve pain and stiffness in the muscles and joints of the neck and shoulders. It might also reduce the number of headaches, including migraines. This study will compare two groups of patients aged 18 and over who have been diagnosed with chronic migraine. One group will have manual therapy plus their usual care; the other group will have their usual care only.
The study is intended to find out if adding manual therapy can to care as usual reduces the discomfort from chronic migraine. It may provide an additional effective treatment choice for those people who do not benefit completely from existing approaches for chronic migraine
REC name
South Central - Hampshire B Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
18/SC/0069
Date of REC Opinion
4 Jun 2018
REC opinion
Further Information Favourable Opinion