Refereed journal article or data article (A1)
Extracephalic tenderness and pressure pain threshold in children with headache.
List of Authors: Metsahonkala L, Anttila P, Laimi K, Aromaa M, Helenius H, Mikkelsson M, Jäppilä E, Viander S, Sillanpää M, Salminen J.
Publication year: 2006
Journal: European Journal of Pain
Volume number: 10
Issue number: 7
Start page: 581
End page: 585
Number of pages: 5
ISSN: 1090-3801
DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ejpain.2005.08.005
BACKGROUND:
Sensitisation of the pain detection system has been suggested to be involved in the pathogenesis of recurrent headache. In adults, increased sensitivity to pain has been found in patients with chronic tension type headache. Children with migraine or with unspecific headache report non-headache pains and interictal pericranial muscular tenderness more often than headache-free children.
OBJECTIVE:
To study if children with different types of headache report non-headache pain more often than children with no headache and if extracephalic muscular tenderness is different in children with headache in comparison to headache-free children. To find out if interval to the headache episode has influence on the extracranial muscular tenderness.
DESIGN:
A population-based sample of 13-year-old children with migraine (n=48), episodic tension type headache (61) or no headache (59) were interviewed for the occurrence and characteristics of headache and fulfilled a questionnaire on non-headache pain. A structured manual palpation test on muscular tenderness and a pain threshold measurement were done on seven cephalic and three extracephalic points.
RESULTS:
Children with migraine reported other pains, especially stomach pain and limb pain more often than children with episodic tension type or no headache. There were no significant differences in the extracephalic muscular tenderness or in the pressure pain thresholds between the three groups.
CONCLUSIONS:
Children with migraine experience more non-headache pains than children with episodic tension type headache and with no headache. However, neither children with migraine nor children with episodic tension type headache show increased interictal extracephalic muscular sensitivity for palpation.