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Extracephalic tenderness and pressure pain threshold in children with headache

Liisa Metsahonkala1, Pirjo Anttila, Katri Laimi

  • 1Department of Child Neurology, Helsinki University Hospital, Helsinki, Finland. liisa.metsahonkala@hus.fi <liisa.metsahonkala@hus.fi>

European Journal of Pain (London, England)
|October 6, 2005
PubMed

Insights

Children with migraine report more non-headache pains, like stomach and limb pain. However, children with migraine or tension-type headaches do not show increased muscle tenderness outside the head.

Area of Science:

  • Pediatric neurology
  • Pain research

Background:

  • Recurrent headaches in children may involve pain system sensitization.
  • Adults with chronic tension-type headaches show increased pain sensitivity.
  • Children with migraine or unspecific headaches report more non-headache pain and muscle tenderness.

Purpose of the Study:

  • Investigate if children with various headaches report more non-headache pain than headache-free children.
  • Compare extracephalic muscular tenderness in children with and without headaches.
  • Determine the influence of headache episode interval on extracephalic muscular tenderness.

Main Methods:

  • Population-based sample of 13-year-old children (migraine, episodic tension-type headache, no headache).
  • Interviews on headache characteristics and non-headache pain questionnaires.
  • Manual palpation for muscular tenderness and pain threshold measurements at cephalic and extracephalic points.

Main Results:

  • Children with migraine reported more non-headache pains (stomach, limb) compared to other groups.
  • No significant differences in extracephalic muscular tenderness or pressure pain thresholds were found between groups.
  • Interval to headache episode did not influence extracephalic muscular tenderness.

Conclusions:

  • Children with migraine experience a higher prevalence of non-headache pains.
  • Increased interictal extracephalic muscular sensitivity for palpation was not observed in children with migraine or episodic tension-type headache.
  • Pain sensitization may manifest differently in pediatric headache presentations.
Abstract

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