Effect of instrument- assisted soft tissue mobilization and phonophoresis on trigger points of tension headache / Nada Gamal Saad Mohamed ; Supervised Abeer Abdelrahman Yamany , Mariam Omran Grase , Amr Abdallah Azzam

Thesis (M.Sc.) - Cairo University - Faculty of Physical Therapy - Department of Basic Science

Background: Tension headache is a type of bilateral headache with a pressing or tightening quality that causes significant discomfort and dysfunction as well as a high burden and massive cost. Purpose: This study was conducted to investigate the effect of instrument assisted soft tissue mobilization and phonophoresis on trigger points of tension headache. Subjects and methods: The study included sixty patients with tension headache randomized into four equal groups: All groups received conventional treatment. Group (A) received conventional treatment only, Group (B) received instrument-assisted soft tissue mobilization, Group (C) received lidocaine phonophoresis and group (D) received instrument-assisted soft tissue mobilization and phonophoresis .The outcome measurements were include visual analog scale (VAS), neck disability index (NDI),headache frequency and pressure pain threshold (PPT). All variables measured before treatment and after four weeks post treatment. Results: There was a statistical significant improvement in the mean value of VAS, NDI, headache frequency and PPT in the four groups When the post measurement were compared between groups, there was a statistically significant differences in the mean value of all measurement variables in the favorable of group D. Conclusion: Adding instrument assisted soft tissue mobilization and lidocaine phonophoresis to conventional treatment is more efficient than conventional treatment alone in relieving pain, increase neck functional ability, decrease frequency of headache and increase pressure pain threshold in patients with tension headache

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