Medizinische Universität Graz Austria/Österreich - Forschungsportal - Medical University of Graz
Gewählte Publikation:
Weiler, A.
Standardization of cryotherapy for cephalea: a prospective feasibility study
Humanmedizin; [ Diplomarbeit ] Medizinische Universität Graz; 2021. pp. 52
[OPEN ACCESS]
FullText
- Autor*innen der Med Uni Graz:
- Betreuer*innen:
- Eppinger Sebastian
- Tomazic Peter Valentin
- Altmetrics:
- Abstract:
- Introduction Cryotherapy is a commonly applied form of therapy in the event of pain, e.g. for all kinds of headache. However, its application in the event of headaches, is often based on experience rather than on evidence-based medicine. Therefore, this study aims to investigate the parameters temperature and localization of cryotherapy on the head in the form of a prospective feasibility study, in order to provide a standardized treatment regimen for cryotherapy for headaches. Material and Methods 15 participants are included in this clinical trial of an interval cryotherapy which consists of ten cycles of one minute cooling and one minute without cooling. All participants are over 18 years old, non-pregnant, have experienced headaches before and do not have any other diseases. The temperature and impressions of participants is consistently documented. For statistical evaluation descriptive statistic is used. For plotting the results IBM SPSS Statistics® and Python was used. Participants’ data is anonymized. Results Out of the 15 participants 93.3% identified cryotherapy as very pleasing or pleasing and a 100% envisaged using cryotherapy during future headache episodes. A mean temperature of 16.48°C (SD: 2.54), with a range between 12°C-19.6°C, was found to be the most effective and pleasant temperature. A slightly higher sensitivity to cold of the forehead could be noticed (33.3%) in comparison to the temples (13.3%). However, 53.3% were indifferent towards the sensitivity of both cooling sites. Conclusion In this study we showed that the implication of a standard treatment regimen for the parameters temperature and localization in cryotherapy on the head is desirable in order to provide patients a non-pharmaceutical form of therapy. With a mean temperature of 16.48°C, further studies are required to fully investigate the effect of cryotherapy on patients with acute headache.