Treatment of migraine headaches by neurofeedback

Neurofeedback is a useful therapeutic resource against migraine headaches.

Migraine headaches are a relatively frequent problem among the population; it is estimated that about 12% of adults in Western countries suffer from them on a regular basis, with the condition being slightly more frequent among women.

In addition, unfortunately, it is estimated that most people who have developed migraine take about 2 years to receive a diagnosis, which further damages their quality of life.

Fortunately, as research has been done on this type of headache, some therapeutic approaches have been discovered, some effective therapeutic approaches to managing migraine symptoms have been discovered, and one of them is neurofeedback, a form of intervention that we will talk about here.one of them is neurofeedback, a form of intervention that we will discuss in this article.

What are migraines?

The migraine is a disorder characterized mainly by the appearance of a headache of moderate or severe intensity, affecting approximately half of the head, and that can last several hours.It affects approximately half of the head and can last for several hours. Along with this main symptom, others such as nausea and dizziness, sensitivity to light, and a phenomenon known as aura, characterized by a disturbance of the senses, especially vision, are common.

On the other hand, migraine manifests its symptoms in episodes that normally appear several weeks apart, and when they produce a very acute pain, they are capable of leaving the person incapacitated for several hours.

However, migraine is a relatively benign disease, as it does not directly cause death, although it is associated with an increased risk of stroke. In any case, it is a sufficiently is a sufficiently damaging problem for many people to turn to health professionals to treat the condition, since it is to treat this pathology, given that in addition to causing pain, it sometimes means spending many hours in bed.

How is neurofeedback applied to the treatment of migraines?

The causes of migraines are complex, and are not fully understood by science, partly because there is a great deal of variation between individuals. However, it seems that there is a combination of Biological and genetic factors, and others that are environmental in origin.

In any case, what is known is that in the situations that trigger the symptoms of migraine there are several phenomena that can be controlled voluntarily by the person who has developed this disorder. by the person who has developed this disorder. The problem is that normally, these people do not know that a certain process taking place in their body is part of the causes of their migraine episodes. Neurofeedback is a way to become aware of what these factors are and to learn how to control them.

Explained in more detail, neurofeedback is a therapeutic intervention procedure that consists of measuring a person's electrical brain activity (by applying sensors to their head, without making any incision in the skin) and giving them this information in real time, so that they learn to regulate their nerve activation patterns.

It is a method that is useful to help patients modulate their psychophysiological state according to their wellness goals.Neurofeedback has been shown to be effective in the treatment of several disorders, migraine being one of them.

In the case of migraine, neurofeedback trains the person to correct the amplitude of the frequencies of neuronal activation of certain parts of the cortex of the brain, which causes the symptoms to lose strength. Through this strategy, which takes place over several sessions, migraines appear much less frequently, and usually through weaker symptoms. It has also been seen that its effects are maintained over time once the cycle of neurofeedback sessions has ended.

Bibliographic references:

• Bigal, M.E., Lipton, R.B. (2008). The prognosis of migraine. Current Opinion in Neurology. 21(3): pp. 301 - 308.
• Dodick, D.W.; Gargus, J.J. (2008). Why migraines strike. Scientific American. 299 (2): pp. 56 - 63.
• Global Burden of Disease Survey (2018). Global, regional, and national burden of migraine and tension-type headache, 1990–2016: a systematic analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2016. The Lancet, 17(11): pp. 954 - 976.
• Matías-Guiu, J. et. al. (2010). One-year Prevalence of Migraine in Spain: A Nationwide Population-Based Survey. Cephalalgia, 31(4): pp. 463 - 470.
• Walker, J.E. (2011). QEEG-guided Neurofeedback for Recurrent Migraine Headaches. Clinical EEG and Neuroscience. 42(1): PP. 59 - 61.