Can relaxation exercises help children cope with chronic headaches?

Learning how to relax and diffuse tension goes a very long way in the treatment and prevention of tension headaches. Teaching people with chronic tension headaches how to relax, or using biofeedback therapies, has been shown, in clinical studies, to provide exceptional benefits without side effects. One of the more interesting studies considered the effectiveness of school-based relaxation training by nurses as a treatment for chronic tension headache in children (10-15 years old). These children's headaches were, significantly reduced, compared with those of children in a no-treatment control group, after six weeks and at a six-month follow-up. At the time of the two evaluations, 69 percent and 73 percent of the students, respectively, trained in relaxation had achieved a clinically significant improvement (at least a 50 percent improvement) as compared with 8 percent and 27 percent of the children, respectively, in the no-treatment control group. The conclusion is that teaching kids with chronic tension headaches how to relax can be quite effective and is without side effects. What I really like about this therapy is that it sends kids a better message - rather than getting relief from a pill (drug), they learn how to control the headache themselves. This therapy was developed in Norway, and by now at least seven double-blind studies over a 20-year period support its effectiveness not only for tension headaches but also for migraines.

Find out more about this book: What the Drug Companies Won't Tell You and Your Doctor Doesn't Know: The Al...

Buy Book