[Therapeutic manipulation of episodic tension type headache. A randomized, controlled clinical trial]

In a randomized controlled clinical trial, 75 subjects fulfilling the IHS criteria for episodic tension-type headache were treated for four weeks. One group received spinal manipulation plus soft tissue therapy in the neck, the other received soft tissue therapy plus low-power laser therapy to the same region. In the three month follow-up period both groups showed significant improvement, but there were no differences between the groups. Thus, spinal manipulation had no effect on episodic tension-type headache, in contrast to the significant effect of spinal manipulation which has previously been demonstrated in cases of cervicogenic headache. These two headaches should therefore be diagnostically differentiated in the future.