Rubbing Out Migraines

Even the terminology of chronic headaches can make you cringe: migraine, tension, cluster. These are not the brief, dull aches that can be chased away with an aspirin, but the debilitating, nausea-inducing types that afflict a large portion of the population. The good news is that in a recent study, a movement therapy known as the Trager approach provided significant relief, allowing people to cut their drug dosages.

Researchers at the University of Southern California (USC) divided 29 headache sufferers into three groups: One had a weekly Trager session, one had a weekly doctor visit, and the third was left on its own. In all groups, subjects were allowed to take drugs as needed.

Over a six-week period, the Trager group reported a 28 percent reduction in headache frequency, compared to 4 percent for the doctor-visit group. They also took half as many drugs.

Trager work, a hybrid of massage, behavioral, and physical therapies, relieves tension through the practitioner’s gentle manipulation of the client’s muscles and joints.

One of the study’s authors, Allan Abbott, a professor of family medicine at USC’s Keck School of Medicine, says the Trager approach deserves further study. No doubt many of those lying in dark rooms with their hands over their eyes would be happy to sign up. To find a Trager practitioner, go to trager-us.org/cgi-bin/search.cgi.

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