SynthesisMedicine2019
Effectiveness of physical therapy on the suboccipital area of patients with tension-type headache: A meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials.
Synthesis in Medicine, 2019. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 11 papers, 3 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
11 citing papers in PubMed, 3 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 37 citations in OpenAlex.
- Chiropractic Management of Adults with Cervicogenic or Tension-Type Headaches: Development of a Clinical Practice Guideline.Journal of integrative and complementary medicine · 2026Pooled it
- Physical Therapy in Tension-Type Headache: A Systematic Review of Randomized Controlled Trials.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2023Pooled it
- Are Morphometric Alterations of the Deep Neck Muscles Related to Primary Headache Disorders? A Systematic Review.Sensors (Basel, Switzerland) · 2023Pooled it
- Conditioned pain modulation elicited through manual pressure techniques on the cervical spine: a crossover study.Pain reports · 2025Article
- Could the Suboccipital Release Technique Result in a Generalized Relaxation and Self-Perceived Improvement? A Repeated Measure Study Design.Journal of clinical medicine · 2024Article
- Effectiveness and Safety of Pharmacopuncture on Inpatients with Tension Headache Caused by Traffic Accidents: A Pragmatic Randomized Controlled Trial.Journal of clinical medicine · 2024Article
- Article
- Primaries non-migraine headaches treatment: a review.Neurological sciences : official journal of the Italian Neurological Society and of the Italian Society of Clinical Neurophysiology · 2020Review
- Clinical Reasoning Behind Non-Pharmacological Interventions for the Management of Headaches: A Narrative Literature Review.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2020Review
- Is septal deviation associated with headache?: A nationwide 10-year follow-up cohort study.Medicine · 2020Observational
- Osteopathic Manipulative Treatment as an Intervention to Reduce Stress, Anxiety, and Depression in First Responders: A Pilot Study.Missouri medicineArticle
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
6 authors at 3 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundThere has been a lot of research on physical therapy for tension-type headaches. However, the efficacy of physical therapy on the suboccipital region remains unclear.
objectiveTo establish the effectiveness of physical therapy on the suboccipital area of patients with tension-type headache.
methodsDatabases including Cochrane Library, Medline/Pubmed, CNKI, Embase, and Google Scholar were searched. After independent study selection by 2 authors, data were extracted and collected independently. On 1 hand, authors compared the treatment of the suboccipital area with control group. On the other hand, the efficacy of several physical therapy techniques on the suboccipital region was compared. The quality of the included studies was assessed using the Cochrane Handbook. RevMan 5.3 software was used for data analysis. The primary outcome measures were the cervical range of motion, the visual analog scale, and headache disability inventory.
resultsSix randomized controlled trials with a total of 505 participants were included. Suboccipital soft-tissue inhibition technique (SIT) + occiput-atlas-axis global manipulation (OAA) was more effective than SIT in increasing craniocervical extension at 4 weeks post-treatment, the overall mean differences (MD) was 3.61, 95% confidence interval (CI) (0.89-6.34). There was no difference at 8 weeks post-treatment (MD 2.38, 95% CI -1.02 to 5.78, P = .17). SIT was more effective than SIT + OAA in increasing cervical flexion at 4-week post-treatment (MD -3.36, 95% CI -6.65 to -0.05). SIT + OAA was more effective than SIT on decreasing intensity of pain at 4-week post-treatment (MD -0.91, 95% CI -1.78 to -0.04), but no difference at 8-week (MD -0.43, 95% CI -1.18 to 0.33, P = .27). SIT + OAA was more effective than SIT in reducing the functional score of the headache disability inventory at 4-week post-treatment (MD -4.47, 95% CI -8.44 to -0.50). These results may indicate that the SIT + OAA combined therapy is more effective in short term (4-week), no major difference in longer term (8-week).
conclusionCombined therapy may be more suitable for the treatment of tension-type headache.
Indexed as
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What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.