[Electrotherapy for headaches]

Neuromodulation is being applied increasingly for the treatment of drug resistant headache. Although these techniques are often considered high-tech, electrotherapy for headache has a long history; electric fish have been used for headache treatment since the first century CE. During the eighteenth and nineteenth century, static electricity was a treatment for a wide variety of neuropsychiatric disorders including headache. The efficacy of electrotherapy, however, has been disputed continuously, since opponents were of the opinion that the positive results could be attributed to suggestion. At the beginning of the twentieth century, the electric treatment of headache gradually disappeared. In recent years, there has been a resurgence in the use of electrotherapy, along with the efficacy debate. With this historical review we wish to emphasize the importance of placebo-controlled studies, not only in terms of electrotherapy of headache, but also for the evaluation of neuromodulation for other disorders.