Cervicogenic

Diagnostic Testing Considerations in Pediatric Cervicogenic Headache

By Frank M. Painter|August 20, 2016|Cervicogenic, Headache|

Diagnostic Testing Considerations in Pediatric Cervicogenic Headache

SOURCE: ACA News ~ May 23, 2016

Robert Vining, DC and Janice Kane, DC

The Neurological Institute,
Taipei Veterans General Hospital,
Taipei, Taiwan.

We are all aware that children commonly complain of headaches, but determining a specific diagnosis can be challenging. That’s partly because pediatric patients may not describe their symptoms as well as adults. Therefore, we asked this question: “Is there a diagnostic test that helps classify headache in pediatric patients in the range of 6-12 years?” If an evidence-based diagnostic test is available, it may help providers diagnose and develop management strategies.

Cervicogenic headache is common in pediatric patients and is defined by the International Headache Society as a condition caused by cervical spine dysfunction that is usually accompanied by neck pain. We chose this type of headache because it is commonly seen in chiropractic offices. With these thoughts in mind, we performed a search for office-based tests to help substantiate a diagnosis of cervicogenic headache diagnosis in a pediatric patient.

An evidence-based consideration

A PubMed search using the terms pediatric AND headache AND posture produced only a few articles. Included in this list is an article authored by Budelmann et al. describing a cross-sectional study entitled:

Is there a difference in head posture and cervical spine movement in children with and without pediatric headache?
Eur J Pediatr. 2013 (Oct); 172 (10): 1349-56

What happened in this study?

Investigators recruited 34 asymptomatic children from a high school and handball club in Germany and 30 symptomatic patients from physiotherapy departments in the Netherlands. Both groups had a mean age of 10 years (range of 6-12 years).

Criteria utilized for probable cervicogenic headaches were patient reports of:

There are more articles like this @ our:

Headache and Chiropractic Page

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Manual Treatment For Cervicogenic Headache And Active Trigger Point In The Sternocleidomastoid Muscle: A Pilot Randomized Clinical Trial

By Frank M. Painter|August 30, 2013|Cervicogenic, Headache, Myofascial Trigger Points|

Manual Treatment For Cervicogenic Headache And Active Trigger Point In The Sternocleidomastoid Muscle: A Pilot Randomized Clinical Trial

The Chiro.Org Blog

J Manipulative Physiol Ther. 2013 (Sep); 36 (7): 403—411

Gema Bodes-Pardo, PT, MSc, Daniel Pecos-Martín, PT, PhD, Tomás Gallego-Izquierdo, PT, PhD, Jaime Salom-Moreno, PT, MSc, César Fernández-de-las-Peñas, PT, PhD, Ricardo Ortega-Santiago, PT, PhD

Clínica Fisioterapia Santiago Vila,
San Fernando de Henares, Spain.

OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this preliminary study was to determine feasibility of a clinical trial to measure the effects of manual therapy on sternocleidomastoid active trigger points (TrPs) in patients with cervicogenic headache (CeH).

METHODS: Twenty patients, 7 males and 13 females (mean ± SD age, 39 ± 13 years), with a clinical diagnosis of CeH and active TrPs in the sternocleidomastoid muscle were randomly divided into 2 groups. One group received TrP therapy (manual pressure applied to taut bands and passive stretching), and the other group received simulated TrP therapy (after TrP localization no additional pressure was added, and inclusion of longitudinal stroking but no additional stretching). The primary outcome was headache intensity (numeric pain scale) based on the headaches experienced in the preceding week. Secondary outcomes included neck pain intensity, cervical range of motion (CROM), pressure pain thresholds (PPT) over the upper cervical spine joints and deep cervical flexors motor performance. Outcomes were captured at baseline and 1 week after the treatment.

There’s a lot more material like this @ our:

Headache and Chiropractic Page and the:

Myofascial Trigger Points Page

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Manual Therapy With and Without Vestibular Rehabilitation for Cervicogenic Dizziness: A Systematic Review

By Frank M. Painter|October 2, 2011|Cervicogenic, Dizziness, Spinal Manipulation|

Manual Therapy With and Without Vestibular Rehabilitation for Cervicogenic Dizziness: A Systematic Review

The Chiro.Org Blog

SOURCE: Chiropractic & Manual Therapies 2011 (Sep 18)

Reidar P Lystad, Gregory Bell, Martin Bonnevie-Svendsen
and Catherine V Carter

Department of Chiropractic,
Macquarie University,
Sydney, Australia.
reidar.lystad@mq.edu.au

BACKGROUND: Manual therapy is an intervention commonly advocated in the management of dizziness of a suspected cervical origin. Vestibular rehabilitation exercises have been shown to be effective in the treatment of unilateral peripheral vestibular disorders, and have also been suggested in the literature as an adjunct in the treatment of cervicogenic dizziness. The purpose of this systematic review is to evaluate the evidence for manual therapy, in conjunction with or without vestibular rehabilitation, in the management of cervicogenic dizziness.

METHODS: A comprehensive search was conducted in the databases Scopus, Mantis, CINHAL and the Cochrane Library for terms related to manual therapy, vestibular rehabilitation and cervicogenic dizziness. Included studies were assessed using the Maastricht-Amsterdam criteria.

RESULTS: A total of fifteen articles reporting findings from thirteen unique investigations, including five randomised controlled trials and eight prospective, non-controlled cohort studies were included in this review. The methodological quality of the included studies was generally poor to moderate. All but one study reported improvement in dizziness following either unimodal or multimodal manual therapy interventions. Some studies reported improvements in postural stability, joint positioning, range of motion, muscle tenderness, neck pain and vertebrobasilar artery blood flow velocity.

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