Patients with chronic, but not episodic, migraine display altered activity of their neck extensor muscles.
The current study aimed to investigate differences in activity of neck flexor and extensor muscles in women with migraine considering the chronicity of their condition. Thirty-one subjects with episodic migraine, 21 with chronic migraine and 31 healthy controls participated. Surface electromyography signals were recorded bilaterally from the sternocleidomastoid, anterior scalene, splenius capitis and upper trapezius muscles as subjects performed 5 stages of cranio-cervical flexion (CCF), representing a progressive increase in range of CCF motion. Comparison of normalized root-mean-square among groups was conducted with 3×5 ANCOVA with task level as the within-subject variable, group as the between-subject variable, and the presence of neck pain and disability as co-variates. The group with chronic migraine exhibited increased activity of their extensor muscles compared to the control and episodic migraine groups (splenius capitis: F=3.149, P=0.045; upper trapezius: F=3.369, P=0.041). No significant between-group differences were found for the superficial neck flexors (sternocleidomastoid: F=1.161, P=0.320; anterior scalene: F=0.135, P=0.874). In conclusion, women with chronic migraine exhibit increased activity of their superficial neck extensor muscles when acting as antagonists during low-load isometric CCF contractions in comparison to non-headache subjects.
Ribeirão Preto Medical School, University of São Paulo, Brazil. Electronic address: lidianelimaflorencio@gmail.com.
Lidiane L
LL
Florencio
Ribeirão Preto Medical School, University of São Paulo, Brazil.
Anamaria S
AS
Oliveira
Ribeirão Preto Medical School, University of São Paulo, Brazil.
Tenysson W
TW
Lemos
Ribeirão Preto Medical School, University of São Paulo, Brazil.
Gabriela F
GF
Carvalho
Ribeirão Preto Medical School, University of São Paulo, Brazil.
Fabiola
F
Dach
Teva Pharmaceuticals, USA.
Marcelo E
ME
Bigal
Bernstein Focus Neurotechnology (BFNT) Göttingen, Bernstein Center for Computational Neuroscience, University Medical Center Göttingen, Georg-August University, Germany.
Deborah
D
Falla
Universidad Rey Juan Carlos, Spain.
César
C
Fernández-de-Las-Peñas
Ribeirão Preto Medical School, University of São Paulo, Brazil.
Débora
D
Bevilaqua-Grossi
D000328:Adult; D002908:Chronic Disease; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D004576:Electromyography / Q000379:methods*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007537:Isometric Contraction / Q000502:physiology*; D008875:Middle Aged; D008881:Migraine Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000503:physiopathology*; D009334:Neck Muscles / Q000502:physiology / Q000503:physiopathology*; D019547:Neck Pain / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000503:physiopathology; D016059:Range of Motion, Articular / Q000502:physiology; D055815:Young Adult
Cervical spine; Cranio-cervical flexion test; Migraine; Pain; Surface electromyography