Functional relaxation as a somatopsychotherapeutic intervention: A prospective controlled study

Context . Functional relaxation is based on concentration on body perceptio n while moving the joints of the skeleton smoothly and simultaneously breat hing out. Case reports have shown that patients with headaches can profit f rom functional relaxation. Objective . To examine whether patients with chronic tension headaches (Int ernational Headache Society diagnosis) who use functional relaxation as a c omplementary treatment will report less pain than before they learned this technique. Design . Randomized, prospective, single-blind controlled trial. Standardiz ed elements of functional relaxation were compared to a placebo-relaxation technique, a simple isotonic exercise of the hand. Setting . Primary care, ambulatory private practice. Participants . Twelve matched pairs were chosen according to age, sex, and initial pain intensity This poststratification was performed on patients, w ho kept a complete pain diary covering 60 days before and 60 days after the introduction to the therapy. After a PS-minute introduction in small group s, the patients were told to do the exercises as often as possible for the following 2 months. Main Outcome Measures . Pain diary. Results . In the functional-relaxation group, a significant reduction was f ound in the sum of total pain hours and in high- and medium-intensive pain (Wilcoxon signed rank test). Conclusions . This study supports the concept that this psychosomatic thera py ran bring relief from tension headaches. This procedure can be viewed as an easy-to-learn relaxation technique to be used either prophylactic or co mplementary to pharmaceutical treatment.