Treating Patients with Headache/Migraine

Who is this course for?

In the course “Treating Patients with Headache/ Migraine” will provide practitioners with a fundamental understanding of the epidemiology, etiology and symptoms associated with headaches and migraines.  This course discusses multimodal treatment approaches and how this knowledge can aid in the outcomes of their patients. Clinical practice can be impacted by using manual therapy approaches combined with dry needling, manipulation/mobilization techniques. 

Practitioners should take this course if they would like to learn the fundamental understanding of how to identify and properly manage headache and migraines in our patients.

As a therapist…

Often, therapists are frustrated with dealing with You are probably not very comfortable addressing chronic headache’s in your patient population.  However, when we understand the underlying causes of dysfunction you can layer techniques to address the correct causes and reverse dysfunction. The more you understand about how we can address postural, structural and lifestyle causes, the better you will understand how to address your patients.

While migraines generally are poorly understood, they tend to be successfully addressed early with multiple therapeutic approaches. This course reviews these ideas.

Are you dealing with patients who cave chronic headaches?

Chronic headaches and chronic pain. If we want to have a better understanding of how to best treat chronic headaches, we need to understand the best ways to address parasympathetic tone, suboccipital management and postural approaches to treatment.

Do you want to learn ways to improve your headache and migraine treatment?

• Understand the types of headache presentations and how to manage primary headaches
• Understand how dry needling may help in the treatment of headaches.
• Understand how breathe work and therapeutic exercises can address the underlying causes of headache and migraine.

Learn about…

• The epidemiology, etiology and symptoms of various headache and migraine presentations.
• How multimodal approaches are best to relieve headache pain.
• How Stopain may be a approach to headache and migraine treatment.

This course is for you if you are you looking to…

• Explore better ways to diagnose and treat headache and migraine.
• Understand how multimodal therapeutic techniques can aid your patients.
• Understand how we can address the underlying causes of the pain

Your instructors will discuss…

• Multimodal approaches to treatment of headache and migraine
• Recognize differences in symptoms of headache and migraine
• The social determinants of headache/Migraine in differing populations
• The efficacy and tolerability of Stopain approaches

Full Course Description

What will you learn as a student in this Course?

Module 1: Epidemiology

• Describe the prevalence of headache in differing populations
• Identify the prevalence of Migraine in differing populations
• Define Migraine and Headache
• Describe the Social determinants of headache/Migraine in differing populations

Module 2: Types of headaches: Etiology and Symptoms

• Explain the differences in symptoms if headache and migraine
• Describe the types of Headaches
• Describe the types of Migraine
• Identify the symptoms of Headache and Migraine
• Explain the impacts on QOL for patients

Module 3: Treatment Approaches

• Describe the Multimodal approaches to treatment of headache and migraine
• Recognize the approaches to treatment of headache and migraine
• Identify manipulation/mobilization approaches
• Identify manual therapy approaches
• Identify dry needling approaches
• Identify therapeutic exercise approaches
• Identify breath work approaches

Module 4: Stopain Headache/migraine

What’s included in this course?

• Describe the impacts of stopain on headache and migraine
• Recognize the stopain clinical overview of headache and migraine
• Identify the efficacy and tolerability of stopain approaches

• “10” lessons including, “3” hours of video
• A complete downloadable transcript for you to follow along.
• “7” article readings
• Course Completion quiz

Reading Materials

All reading materials are downloaded through PubMed free PMC.

• Burch R, Rizzoli P, Loder E. The prevalence and impact of migraine and severe headache in the United States: Updated age, sex, and socioeconomic-specific estimates from government health surveys. Headache. 2021 Jan;61(1):60-68. doi: 10.1111/head.14024. Epub
• Buse DC, Loder EW, Gorman JA, Stewart WF, Reed ML, Fanning KM, Serrano D, Lipton RB. Sex differences in the prevalence, symptoms, and associated features of migraine, probable migraine and other severe headache: results of the American Migraine Prevalence
• Fernández-de-Las-Peñas C, Florencio LL, Plaza-Manzano G, Arias-Buría JL. Clinical Reasoning Behind Non-Pharmacological Interventions for the Management of Headaches: A Narrative Literature Review. Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2020;17(11):4126. Published 2020 Jun 9. doi:10.3390/ijerph17114126
• Beltran-Alacreu H, Lopez-de-Uralde-Villanueva I, La Touche R. Multimodal Physiotherapy Based on a Biobehavioral Approach as a Treatment for Chronic Tension-Type Headache: A Case Report. Anesth Pain Med. 2015 Dec 13;5(6):e32697. doi: 10.5812/aapm.32697. PMID: 26705532; PMCID: PMC4688818.
• Fernández-de-Las-Peñas C, Cuadrado ML. Physical therapy for headaches. Cephalalgia. 2016 Oct;36(12):1134-1142. doi: 10.1177/0333102415596445. Epub 2016 Jul 20. PMID: 26660851.
• de-la-Puente-Ranea L, Gil-Martínez A, Rodríguez-Lopez O, González-Gutiérrez P, Mangas-Guijarro MÁ, Navarro-Fernández G. Manual therapy and exercise for patients with cluster headache. EXCLI J. 2021;20:948-955. Published 2021 May 25. doi:10.17179/excli2021
• St Cyr A, Chen A, Bradley KC, Yuan H, Silberstein SD, Young WB. Efficacy and Tolerability of STOPAIN for a Migraine Attack. Front Neurol. 2015;6:11. Published 2015 Feb 4. doi:10.3389/fneur.2015.00011

Structure and Function Education Courses provide Continuing Education (CEU)

We are proud to provide CEUs for various health professions including athletic trainers, physical therapists, chiropractors and more. See if Structure & Function Education coursework will satisfy the continuing education requirements for your state licensure or certification.

Learn More