Low back pain is a frequently occurred health issue in the general population and among subjects with primary headaches.
Migraine and tension-type headache (TTH) has
been found to be associated with several pain conditions including neck and
back pain. However, no published evidence has been shown the exact relationship
between these. Therefore, in the present study, it was determined that back
pain is highly frequent in individuals with a chronic headache (CH), followed
by an episodic headache (EH) and no headache.
Low back pain is a frequently occurred health issue in the general
population and among subjects with primary headaches. The study aimed to assess
the relative frequency of self-reported back pain among individuals with and
without primary headaches and evaluated pain sensitivity.
A total of 796 subjects completed an ICHD criteria headache interview and
delivered data of interest in a self-administered questionnaire. Headache was
categorised as episodic (EH) or chronic (CH). Further, a total of 494 cephalic
and extracephalic pressure pain thresholds (PPTs) and 495 pericranial total
tenderness score (TTS) were also evaluated.
Both headache groups exhibited the higher 1-year relative frequency of back
pain than no headache group after adjusting education, poor self-rated health, age and gender. The
TTS among the back pain patients were higher in CH group as compared to EH and
lower in no headache group than both headache groups. Further, CH group
exhibited lower temporalis and finger PPT as compared to EH and no headache
group.
Individuals with CH showed highly frequent back pain followed by EH and no
headache. Among CH patients, back pain correlates with lower extracephalic and
cephalic PPTs indicating central sensitisation may be a substrate or result of
comorbidity.
Eur J Pain. 2018 Jan 19.
Increased pain sensitivity in migraine and tension-type headache coexistent with low back pain: A cross-sectional population study
Ashina S et al.
Comments (0)