Year: 2014
Type: article
Abstract: Objective: Migraine and Tension-type headaches are common and disabling disorders, but their pathophysiologies are poorly understood.Dysfunctional pain inhibition is postulated to contribute to the development and/or maintenance of these disorders.Offset analgesia, a temporal contrast effect which activates brain structures involved in pain modulation, has never been assessed in headache sufferers.The object of the study was to compare the offset analgesia effect in a group of headache sufferers to a group of healthy controls.Methods: Undergraduate college students (N=111) were recruited through a research participant pool, and were compensated for their participation with research credit.Participants provided demographic and inclusion/exclusion information, and completed a diagnostic interview for headache disorders.Next, participants established their pain threshold for a temperature stimulus.This temperature was used in the offset analgesia procedure in which participants were asked to continuously rate a series of 3 temperatures: 5 seconds at pain threshold, 5 seconds at 1 degree Celsius above pain threshold, and 15 seconds at pain threshold.Results: Participants with headaches reported an average of 41 headaches a year, with the most common diagnosis being Frequent Episodic Tension-type (30%), followed by Migraine (26%), Infrequent Episodic Tension-type (9%), and Mixed (7%).Although patience, support, and generosity with his time.His guidance has helped shape my development as a researcher and my understanding of Health Psychology.
Author: Kristin N. Lewis
Institution: Ohio University
Language: English
Subfield: Clinical Neurology
Field: Medicine
Domain: Health Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W2525715874