Resumen de Pain-pressure threshold in the head and neck region of episodic tension-type headache patients
Hyung-Jun Kim, Sung-Chang Chung, Young-Ku Kim, Sung-Woo Lee
Pain-pressure thresholds of the head and neck region of 31 patients (aged 13 to 50 years; mean, 28.4 ± 9.6 years) suffering from episodic tension-type headache and 32 female control subjects (aged 15 to 46 years; mean, 26.6 ± 8.6 years) were recorded with an electronic algometer by the same blinded observer. The multivariate analysis of variance revealed that the algometer values obtained from different age groups of patients and control subjects were statistically different, but the values for the right-side muscles were not statistically different from the corresponding values for the left-side muscles. The pain-pressure thresholds of the patient group were lower than those of the control group for the superior sternocleidomastoid muscles, middle sternocleidomastoid muscles, and trapezius insertion muscles (P<.01) but were not statistically different for the anterior temporal, middle tempora, posterior temporal, deep masseter, anterior masseter, inferior maseter, medial pterygoid, posterior digastric, splenius capitis, and upper trapezius muscles (P<.01). The results may indicate that pain-pressure thresholds of the head and neck region should be considered in the diagnosis of episodic tension-type headache. The results may also propose that the increased pain sensitivity of the head and, especially, the neck region, may be included in the pathogenetic mehanism in episodic tension-type headache.
