• María Palacios Ceña, Matteo Castaldo, Kelun Wang, Pascal Madeleine, Ángel L Guerrero, Lars Arendt-Nielsen, and César Fernández-de-Las-Peñas.
• Department of Physical Therapy, Occupational Therapy, Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, Universidad Rey Juan Carlos, Alcorcón, Spain.
• Pain Pract. 2017 Nov 1; 17 (8): 1050-1057.

BackgroundPrevious pilot studies suggest the presence of heterogeneous sensitivity to pressure in primary headaches without considering the frequency of headache episodes.ObjectiveTo investigate the differences in topographical pressure pain sensitivity maps in the temporalis muscle between individuals with frequent episodic (FETTH) and chronic (CTTH) tension-type headache by controlling the presence of anxiety and depression.MethodsoPressure pain thresholds (PPTs) were assessed bilaterally from 9 points distributed over the temporalis muscle (3 points in the anterior portion, 3 in the middle portion, and the remaining 3 in the posterior portion of the muscle belly) in 113 patients with FETTH and 91 with CTTH in a blinded design. Topographical pressure pain sensitivity maps based on interpolation of the PPTs were constructed. Clinical features of headache were collected in a 4-week headache diary. Anxiety and depression (Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale) were also assessed.ResultsThe multilevel analysis of covariance found significant difference in PPT levels between points (F = 47.649; P < 0.001), but not between groups (F = 0.801; P = 0.602) or sides (F = 0.331; P = 0.565). No significant effect of gender (F = 0.785; P = 0.667), depression (F = 0.515; P = 0.846), or anxiety (F = 0.639; P = 0.745) was observed. Post hoc comparisons revealed: (1) no differences between FETTH and CTTH; (2) no side-to-side differences; and (3) anterior-to-posterior gradient with the most sensitive points located in the anterior column, followed by those located in the central column and the posterior column of the muscle (all, P < 0.001).ConclusionsThis study confirmed an anterior-to-posterior gradient of sensitivity to pressure in both groups, with the highest sensitivity at the anterior part of the muscle. Further, we found similar pressure pain sensitivity in the trigeminal area in people with FETTH or CTTH with no association with depressive or anxiety levels.© 2017 World Institute of Pain.

14 keywords...

hide…