DIRECTION OF TEMPERATURE CONTROL IN THE THERMAL BIOFEEDBACK TREATMENTOF VASCULAR HEADACHE

In order to test for the specific therapeutic effects of thermal biofe edback (TBF) for hand warming on vascular headache (HA) 70 patients wi th chronic vascular HA were randomly assigned to TBF for hand warming, TBF for hand cooling, TBF for stabilization of hand temperature, or b iofeedback to suppress alpha in the EEG. Patients in each condition in itially had high levels of expectation of therapeutic benefit and foun d the treatment rationales highly credible. Participants in each condi tion received 12 treatment sessions on a twice-per-week basis. Based o n daily HA diary data gathered for 4 weeks prior to treatment and 4 we eks after treatment HA Index was significantly (p = .003) reduced as w as HA medication consumption. There were no differential reductions in HA Index or Medication Index among the four conditions. Global self-r eports of improvement gathered at the end of the post-treatment monito ring period also did not differ among the four conditions. We were una ble to demonstrate a specific effect of TBF for hand warming on vascul ar HA activity.