Effects of Foam Rolling vs. Manual Therapy in Patients with Tension-Type Headache: A Randomized Pilot Study.

BACKGROUND

This study compares the effect of foam rolling (FR) vs. manual therapy (MT) on pain, pressure pain threshold (PPT), headache disability (HDI) and impact of headache (HIT-6) in patients with tension-type headache (TTH).

METHODS

A total of 38 participants with TTH were randomly assigned to an FR group (FRG, = 13), an MT group (MTG, = 13) or a control group (CG, = 12). FRG received FR treatment; MTG received MT techniques; CG received a placebo treatment. The treatment lasted one month. Outcome measures were assessed at baseline, post-intervention and follow-up.

RESULTS

Both FRG and MTG showed significant improvements in all variables after the treatment, but the intervention effect was maintained only for functional disability ( = 0.002 and = 0.005, respectively), overall disability ( = 0.007; = 0.030) and HIT-6 ( = 0.002; = 0.001) at follow-up. After treatment, FRG and MTG presented a significantly higher PPT in right ( = 0.044; = 0.009) and left suboccipital ( = 0.004; = 0.021). MTG showed a significantly lower HIT-6 than CG ( = 0.008). No differences between FRG and MTG were found in any variable.

CONCLUSIONS

Both FR and MT are effective treatments for the improvement of clinical symptoms in TTH. Further studies are needed to confirm our findings in a larger population.