NON-INVASIVE MEDICAL DEVICES, DIETARY SUPPLEMENTS AND OTHER NON-PHARMACOLOGIC BEHAVIORAL THERAPIES IN MIGRAINE AND TENSION-TYPE HEADACHE

Abstract

Headache is the most common neurological symptom with serious personal and socio-economic costs in adult life. Prophylactic drug therapy has only partial response and efficacy with side effects, so there is an increasing research interest in non-pharmaceutical headache management. The purpose of this review is to summarize and then evaluate the available evidence regarding the efficacy of non-invasive devices, dietary supplements and behavioral techniques in migraine, tension-type headache. The research of relevant articles was conducted in the following databases: MEDLINE, Embase, PsychinFO COCHRANE. Altogether, 58 articles were drawn on this subject and included 36 research papers, 22 bibliographic reviews. A total of 12 articles related to Pharmacopoeia, 5 articles transdermal ultrasonic neuroscience, 19 articles non-pharmaceutical behavioral therapies. Recent studies show the best ratio between efficacy of transdermal ultrasound neurostimulation compared to current anti-migraine treatment. As far as behavioral techniques are concerned, positive results have shown the combination of cognitive-behavioral education with stress management techniques and muscle relaxation. However, all results should be interpreted with caution because of the methodological limitations of the studies (microsample, non-bioavailable and follow-up) and the large number of different interventions and are compared in these studies.