Effect of gaze direction recognition task on pain, rom and functional activities in cervicogenic headache patients.

Background: Cervicogenic headache is characterized by unilateral headache potentially stemming from cervical spine mechanical dysfunction. Research indicates that proprioceptive exercises, specifically gaze direction recognition (GDR), are found to be effective in reducing cervical joint position error and enhancing the quality of cervical afferent signals to the central nervous system.

Purpose: This study aimed to evaluate proprioceptive training's impact on headache pain intensity, functional limitation, and neck motion range in individuals experiencing cervicogenic headache.

Subjects and methods: This study employed a randomized controlled design involving 40 participants with cervicogenic headache between 35 and 49 years of age, divided equally into two groups. CONT (control) received only conventional physical therapy interventions, while EXPR (Experimental) underwent both proprioceptive training and standard physical therapy. Both programs consisted of 24, 60-70 min long sessions over 8 weeks. Assessment tools included the Numeric Rating Scale for headache pain, the Neck Disability Index for functional limitation evaluation, and a cervical range of motion (CROM) device for mobility assessment.

Results: Statistical analysis showed that headache pain and disability level significantly decreased (P = 0.0001) post-intervention in both groups, with superior outcomes in EXPR. Similarly, cervical mobility significantly improved (p = 0.0001) in both groups following treatment, with EXPR demonstrating greater enhancements.

Conclusions: Gaze direction recognition exercise (GDR) is effective in reducing headache pain severity, and disability level, and increasing cervical ROM in subjects with Cervicogenic headache.

Trial registration: Approval was granted on 29 February 2024. (PACTR202402489039282), available at https://pactr.samrc.ac.za/ .