Is Pediatric Migraine always Migraine? Neuromuscular Treatment as Alternative to Drug Therapy? - Case Study

Migraine in children occurs increasingly. This case study describes a child with the diagnosis migraine who presented at a manual therapy practice. The diagnosis was based on the International Headache Society (IHS) criteria. Previous interventions such as physiotherapy of the cervical spine and medication had no influence on the headache. The "intake" included the standard recorded CRAFTA examination including craniofacial and mandibular region tests. The hypothesis after examination was that masseter muscle trigger points and the strongly limited cranium rebounce (between Os occipitale and frontale) massively contributed to headache. Therapy consisted of craniofacial mobilisation and trigger point treatment. The results of the assessment tools showed a distinct decline of pain and range of motion limitation as well as a pressure increase (raised pressure tolerance) on the trigger point. After 7 interventions the complaints had disappeared. Presumably the neuromuscular treatment of cranium and craniofacial region had contributed to healing.