Manual Therapy versus Acupuncture in Headache Treatment: Literature Review

  • Ana Paula Serra de Araújo
  • Cleide Alvez de Almeida

Abstract

On this research, two different techniques for headache treatment were analyzed: manual therapy and acupuncture. These techniques have been quite frequently used in headache treatment in the last years. There are different theories and neuropsycho-physiological and mechanical explanations about their effects. The aim of this research was to collect scientific evidence of the effectiveness of manual therapy versus acupuncture as therapy on headache treatment. After defining the issue, relevant studies from 1997 to 2008 were selected. Electronic databases (Google, Scholar.Google, Scielo and Bireme), books and journals were utilized. The studies were organized and evaluated. The results show that the use of manual therapy as well as acupuncture in the treatment of headache present therapeutic effectiveness when used as the only way of treatment or together with other treatment, especially when it comes to reducing the intensity of pain, consumption of drugs and number of crises. As the evaluated articles refer to different populations, present different methodologies and, in some of the cases, there is lack of details on the procedures, it is suggested that deeper researches be carried out to better outline the effectiveness of both manual therapy and acupuncture in headache treatment. As it is such a common and frequent problem among the general population, the need of new researches is suggested as well as higher incentives for researches that aim to compare different forms of treatment to verify which technique is more effective.

Author Biographies

Ana Paula Serra de Araújo
Fisioterapeuta graduada na Universidade Paranaense – UNIPAR; Pós-graduada em Terapia Manual e Postural pelo Centro Universitário de Maringá – CESUMAR; Pós–graduada em Acupuntura pelo Instituto Brasileiro de Terapias e Ensino – IBRATE e Faculdade Estadual de Educação Física e Fisioterapia de Jacarezinho Paraná - FAEFIJA. E-mail: anaps_araujo@hotmail.com / anasaraujo@hotmail.com
Cleide Alvez de Almeida
Fisioterapeuta graduada no Centro Universitário de Maringá - CESUMAR; Pós–graduada em Terapia Manual e Postural pelo Centro Universitário de Maringá - CESUMAR. E-mail: cleide_fisiomanual@hotmail.com
Published
2009-06-08
Section
Artigos de Revisão