Effect of Mulligan manual therapy and exercise on headache frequency, intensity, disability, and upper cervical joint hypomobility in people with episodic tension-type headache: a randomized clinical trial.

Background: The effectiveness of Mulligan manual therapy has been investigated in cervicogenic headache but not in tension-type headache (TTH). Objective: To compare the effectiveness of exercise + Mulligan manual therapy over exercise or exercise + sham in episodic TTH. Methods: Using a randomized...

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Publicado en:Physiotherapy Theory & Practice Vol. 41; no. 11; pp. 2271 - 2288
Autores principales: Satpute, Kiran, Bedekar, Nilima, Hall, Toby
Formato: pictorial research tables/charts randomized controlled trial Journal Article
Publicado: Taylor & Francis Ltd Nov2025
Acceso en línea:Ver este registro en EBSCOhost
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      dt: Nov2025
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      pub: Taylor & Francis Ltd
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        atl: Effect of Mulligan manual therapy and exercise on headache frequency, intensity, disability, and upper cervical joint hypomobility in people with episodic tension-type headache: a randomized clinical trial.
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        au:
          Satpute, Kiran
          Bedekar, Nilima
          Hall, Toby
        affil: Department of Musculoskeletal Physiotherapy, Smt. Kashibai Navale College of Physiotherapy, Pune, India
      sug:
        subj:
          Manual Therapy Evaluation
          Therapeutic Exercise Evaluation
          Tension Headache Therapy
          Pain Measurement
          Disability Evaluation
          Physical Therapy Methods
          Cervical Vertebrae Physiopathology
          Treatment Outcomes
          Human
          Male
          Female
          Adolescence
          Adult
          Middle Age
          Randomized Controlled Trials
          Random Assignment
          Prospective Studies
          Range of Motion
          Patient Satisfaction
          Pain Threshold
          Clinical Reasoning
          India
          Hospitals
          Ambulatory Care Facilities
          Outpatients
          Visual Analog Scaling
          Questionnaires
          Descriptive Statistics
          Comparative Studies
          Intraclass Correlation Coefficient
          Intrarater Reliability
          Data Analysis Software
          Post Hoc Analysis
          Adolescent: 13-18 years
          Adult: 19-44 years
          Middle Aged: 45-64 years
          Male
          Female
      ab: Background: The effectiveness of Mulligan manual therapy has been investigated in cervicogenic headache but not in tension-type headache (TTH). Objective: To compare the effectiveness of exercise + Mulligan manual therapy over exercise or exercise + sham in episodic TTH. Methods: Using a randomized clinical trial design, 99 subjects with episodic TTH received six sessions of allocated intervention over 4 weeks. Headache frequency, intensity, duration, medication intake, disability, upper cervical rotation, pressure-pain thresholds, and patient satisfaction were assessed at baseline, 4 weeks, 3, and 6 months. Results: Headache frequency reduced significantly in group exercise + Mulligan manual therapy compared to group exercise post-intervention (MD −1.0 day, 95% CI −2.0 to −0.0) (p =.002), and at 3-month follow-up (MD −1 days, 95% CI −2.0 to 0.0) (p =.002), but only at post-intervention compared to group exercise + sham (MD 1.0 day, 95% CI 0.0 to 2.0) (p =.008). The clinical relevance is unclear as between-group differences did not reach a clinical threshold. No difference was observed at 6 months (p >.17). A similar trend was observed for other outcomes. There was no difference between groups exercise and exercise + sham for any outcome (p >.17). Conclusion: In episodic TTH, exercise + Mulligan manual therapy provided short-term clinically uncertain improvements in headache parameters. These results differ to studies of cervicogenic headache. Unsuitability of Mulligan manual therapy for underlying pathophysiological mechanisms in episodic TTH may explain these results. Practitioners should consider Mulligan manual therapy for selected patients and only as part of evidence-based multimodal management of episodic TTH. TRIAL registration: CTRI/2019/06/019506.
      pubtype: Academic Journal
      doctype:
        pictorial
        research
        tables/charts
        randomized controlled trial
        Journal Article
      ougenre: Unknown
    language: English
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