title: Effect of movement and position on muscle activity in tension headache sufferers during and between headaches.
abstract: This paper presents the results of two studies. In the first, 20 tension headache subjects were evaluated in both a headache and non-headache state on bilateral trapezius and unilateral frontalis electromyographic activity during six positions: standing, bending from the waist, rising, sitting with back unsupported, sitting with back supported, and prone. Results indicated no effect of headache state on either measure. In a second study, 11 of the tension headache sufferers in Study One and 11 age-matched controls were compared on the same measures (controls were assessed two times, with a one-week duration separating evaluations). Results indicated a diagnosis by position interaction, with post-hoc tests revealing the muscle activity of tension headache sufferers to be considerably higher during the prone position than that of non-headache controls. Non-significant trends were found when examining the data for clinically significant abnormalities (90% of the headache sufferers were found to have significant clinical abnormalities).
authors.affiliation: Psychology Service, Veterans Affairs Medical Center, Augusta, GA 30910.
authors.forename: J G
authors.initials: JG
authors.lastname: Arena
authors.forename: S L
authors.initials: SL
authors.lastname: Hannah
authors.forename: G M
authors.initials: GM
authors.lastname: Bruno
authors.forename: J D
authors.initials: JD
authors.lastname: Smith
authors.forename: K J
authors.initials: KJ
authors.lastname: Meador
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001143:Arousal / Q000502:physiology*; D004576:Electromyography; D005152:Facial Muscles / Q000503:physiopathology; D005260:Female; D006261:Headache / Q000503:physiopathology* / Q000523:psychology; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009119:Muscle Contraction / Q000502:physiology*; D011187:Posture / Q000502:physiology*