Craniosacral Therapy in Migraine: A Feasibility Study

November 30, 2012 updated by: Douglas Mann, MD, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill
Treatment of migraine continues to be a major health problem today, despite many new pharmacological therapies. Limited clinical experience suggests that craniosacral therapy (CST) may be effective in the treatment of headache, including migraine. The primary aim of this proposal is to gather quality preliminary data on the usefulness of CST as an adjunct to conventional care for patients with migraine and to determine the feasibility of a larger, randomized clinical trial of CST in patients with migraine. Craniosacral therapists use a technique of gentle palpation of the head, neck and spine to release restrictions in cranial and peri-spinal tissues that are believed to contribute to a variety of health problems including headache. It is estimated that more than 2 million visits to CST practitioners are made each year, with more than 10 per cent of those for the complaint of headache. There has been no rigorous research examining the usefulness of CST for patients with migraine despite the impression of beneficial effects. Our limited preliminary data show significant, sustained benefit of CST in a small group of patients with migraine. The First Specific Aim is to determine the feasibility of developing a clinical trial comparing craniosacral therapy versus low-strength static magnets (attention-control complementary therapy) as a treatment for preventing migraine headaches. Patients with migraine, with or without aura, under care of a neurologist will be studied. After an 8-week baseline period, they will be randomized to one of two groups: 1) usual medical care plus 8 weeks of CST; or 2) usual medical care plus 8 weeks of attention-control complementary treatment. Primary outcome measures will include: 1) headache-related quality of life, 2) headache frequency, and 3) perceived benefit in those receiving treatment. The Second Specific Aim is to identify relevant secondary outcomes associated with usual care plus adjunctive craniosacral therapy for migraine. Data collection will include demographics, headache intensity and duration, health status, headache-related disability, health care utilization, and medication use. The Third Specific Aim is to identify and find solutions for potential problems in conducting a larger clinical trial to assess the efficacy of CST for the prevention of migraine. Patients will be recruited from the University of North Carolina Headache Clinic and from local neurological practices. Duration of the study for each subject is 16 weeks. Length of the entire project is 2 years.

Study Overview

Status

Completed

Conditions

Intervention / Treatment

Study Type

Interventional

Enrollment (Actual)

66

Phase

  • Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

This section provides the contact details for those conducting the study, and information on where this study is being conducted.

Study Locations

  • United States
    • North Carolina
      • Chapel Hill, North Carolina, United States, 27599
        • University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

Participation Criteria

Researchers look for people who fit a certain description, called eligibility criteria. Some examples of these criteria are a person's general health condition or prior treatments.

Eligibility Criteria

Ages Eligible for Study

12 years to 80 years (Child, Adult, Older Adult)

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

No

Genders Eligible for Study

All

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

  • Eligible subjects will be 12 years of age and above, either gender, meeting the 2004 International Classification of Headache Disorders (ICHD) criteria for migraine with or without aura, with a frequency of 5 to 14 per month and a headache history of more than two years. Patients must be under the care of one of the physicians participating in the study. Patients with chronic daily headache (more than 15 headache days per month) will be included only if they also have between 5 and 14 migraine headaches per month that can be clearly differentiated from chronic daily headache. Subjects or their caregivers must be willing and able to document headache characteristics and use of medications, as well as complete the assessment instruments. They must be able to come in for 8 weekly CST or LSSM interventions.

Exclusion Criteria:

  • Exclusion Criteria. Patients with significant, symptomatic depression, anxiety or psychosis requiring more than two psychotropic medications daily and/or more than two visits a month to a mental health care provider; those undergoing current treatment for a major medical illness such as malignancy, autoimmune or immune deficiency disorder; pregnancy; those with clotting disorders; those with a history of head trauma or cranial or neck surgery within two years; a prior history of use of CST or magnet therapy for headache; cardiac pacemakers; other implanted or external electrical devices.

Study Plan

This section provides details of the study plan, including how the study is designed and what the study is measuring.

How is the study designed?

Design Details

  • Primary Purpose: Treatment
  • Allocation: Randomized
  • Interventional Model: Parallel Assignment
  • Masking: Single

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm
Intervention / Treatment
Experimental: 1
Craniosacral therapy administered once a week for an hour by a trained craniosacral therapist.
Other: Craniosacral therapy
Eight weekly 45-minute sessions with therapist
Active Comparator: 2
Low-strength static magnets placed around the body for periods of up to an hour once a week.
Procedure: Low strength static magnets
Placement of magnets on/around subject body by therapist; frequency: weekly for 45-minutes x 8 weeks

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Time Frame
HIT-6
Time Frame: Post-treatment (end of 8 weeks)
Post-treatment (end of 8 weeks)

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Time Frame
Headache frequency
Time Frame: Daily
Daily

Collaborators and Investigators

This is where you will find people and organizations involved with this study.

Sponsor

University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill

Collaborators

National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health (NCCIH)

Investigators

  • Principal Investigator: John Douglas Mann, MD, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill

Publications and helpful links

The person responsible for entering information about the study voluntarily provides these publications. These may be about anything related to the study.

General Publications

Helpful Links

Study record dates

These dates track the progress of study record and summary results submissions to ClinicalTrials.gov. Study records and reported results are reviewed by the National Library of Medicine (NLM) to make sure they meet specific quality control standards before being posted on the public website.

Study Major Dates

Study Start

September 1, 2006

Primary Completion (Actual)

May 1, 2009

Study Completion (Actual)

September 1, 2010

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

April 21, 2008

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

April 21, 2008

First Posted (Estimate)

April 23, 2008

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (Estimate)

December 4, 2012

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

November 30, 2012

Last Verified

November 1, 2012

More Information

Terms related to this study

Keywords

Additional Relevant MeSH Terms

Other Study ID Numbers

  • R21AT002750-01A2 (U.S. NIH Grant/Contract)

This information was retrieved directly from the website clinicaltrials.gov without any changes. If you have any requests to change, remove or update your study details, please contact register@clinicaltrials.gov. As soon as a change is implemented on clinicaltrials.gov, this will be updated automatically on our website as well.

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