Biofeedback

Biofeedback for Migraines and Headaches

5 steps down 3 min read

Headaches are the use of biofeedback with high-confidence evidence behind it. A 2008 review of 94 studies found medium-to-large improvements in adults with migraine or tension-type headache, mainly in how often the headaches came, with the gains holding over an average of 14 months. A 2019 evidence map of systematic reviews rated the headache evidence as high-confidence.

What did the research find?

The key review is “Biofeedback Treatment for Headache Disorders: A Comprehensive Efficacy Review,” by Nestoriuc and colleagues, published in 2008 in Applied Psychophysiology and Biofeedback. According to its abstract:

  • Scope: 150 outcome studies were screened and 94 included, covering adults with migraine and tension-type headache.
  • Main result: medium-to-large average effects for both conditions.
  • Frequency first: headache frequency was the main outcome and showed the largest improvement.
  • Other gains: self-efficacy, symptoms of anxiety and depression, and medication use also improved.
  • Durability: the effects stayed stable over an average follow-up of 14 months.
  • Comparisons: biofeedback did better than waiting lists and simple headache monitoring in every case, and muscle (EMG) feedback for tension-type headache also did better than placebo and relaxation therapy.

The review rates biofeedback as “efficacious” for migraine and “efficacious and specific” for tension-type headache. The 2019 evidence map rated the headache evidence as high-confidence; its headache data include a review of 94 trials, so it is not a separate, independent confirmation.

Which type of biofeedback is used?

For tension-type headache, the review found that EMG feedback reduced muscle tension in the painful areas, and that this form outperformed placebo. The Wikipedia article on biofeedback notes that therapists also use temperature biofeedback for migraine and tension-type headache. Ask your practitioner which signal they plan to train for your kind of headache, and why.

Does it replace medication?

Not by itself. The review found that medication use went down, but that is an outcome of treatment, not a reason to stop on your own. Any change to headache medicine, especially preventive medicine, belongs in a conversation with the doctor who prescribed it.

What should happen before you start?

A diagnosis. Biofeedback treats headaches that have been identified as migraine or tension-type; it does not explain a headache that has not been assessed. The NHS page on headaches advises seeing a doctor if you get headaches regularly, or if treating them yourself is not working or they are getting worse. It also lists emergency signs, such as a headache that starts suddenly and is extremely painful, which need immediate care rather than a training program.

The results above come from studies in adults. If you are pregnant, or if the headaches are a child’s, ask the treating doctor whether biofeedback fits the plan.

Track what the research tracked

The review’s main outcome was how often headaches occurred. Before your first session, start a headache diary: the date, how long each headache lasted, how severe it was and what medicine you took. After several weeks of sessions and home practice, compare the numbers. That gives you and your practitioner the same measure the studies used.

This article is general information, not medical or psychological advice; talk with a licensed clinician about your own situation.

Related posts:

  1. Can a Hypnotist Make You Do Something Against Your Will? There is no good evidence that a hypnotist can force an unwilling person to act against their will. The realistic danger runs the other way. A session involves trust, relaxed......
  2. Hypnosis for Morning Anxiety and Sunday-Night Dread The alarm has not gone off yet, and the list of everything that could go wrong today is already running. Or it is Sunday at seven, and Monday has arrived......
  3. Hypnosis for Public Speaking Nerves Fear of public speaking is common enough to have its own name, glossophobia, and a familiar set of approaches is suggested for it: preparation, rehearsal, gradual exposure and, when it......
  4. Conversational Hypnosis: What It Is and Whether It Can Be Misused "Conversational hypnosis" refers to hypnotic language used inside an ordinary conversation, without the formal induction, the closed eyes or the reclining chair. The idea traces back to Milton Erickson, who......
  5. Feeling Lost? How Hypnosis Helps You Find Direction Feeling lost does not mean you have no direction to find. In identity research, it can mean you are actively exploring options without having committed to one yet, or that......
  6. Hypnosis for Emotional Numbness and Feeling “Flat” Feeling numb or flat is a symptom, not a diagnosis, and its causes range from depression and trauma to the side effects of common medicines. Some of those causes need......
  7. Box Breathing and Quick Techniques to Calm Down Fast Box breathing means breathing in for four seconds, holding for four, breathing out for four and holding for four, then repeating. It is one of several short breathing exercises that......
  8. Biofeedback vs. Neurofeedback: What’s the Difference? Neurofeedback is one kind of biofeedback. Biofeedback is the broad method of measuring a body signal and showing it to you so you can learn to change it; neurofeedback applies......
  9. Gastric Band Hypnotherapy: What It Is and How It Works Gastric band hypnotherapy, sometimes called a "virtual gastric band," is weight-loss hypnosis built around one vivid image: being told, in hypnosis, that a band has been fitted around your stomach......
  10. How Breathing and Biofeedback Work Together Breathing is a body signal you can change at will, and it pulls your heart rhythm along with it. Biofeedback uses that link in two ways: sensors can show your......
  11. Will You Remember Everything After Being Hypnotized? Forgetting is not a built-in part of hypnosis. WebMD's medically reviewed overview puts it simply: unlike some portrayals in films and on television, "you'll probably remember what happens during the......
  12. What to Expect at Your First Reiki Session Expect to stay fully clothed, usually lying on a padded table, while the practitioner places their hands on or just above a series of positions on your body. According to......
  13. What Is Regression Hypnosis (Age Regression)? Age regression is a hypnosis technique in which a practitioner guides you back to an earlier time in your life, so that you recall or re-experience past events and the......
  14. What Is Heart Rate Variability, and Why Does It Matter? Heart rate variability, or HRV, is the variation in the time between one heartbeat and the next. It reflects the push and pull between the two branches of the nervous......
  15. Can Hypnotherapy Build Emotional Resilience? That depends partly on whether resilience can be built at all, and researchers disagree. Some describe it as a process that can be cultivated over time; the grief and trauma......
  16. Hypnosis, Reiki, or Biofeedback: Which Is Right for You? Start with your goal and then check the evidence for that goal. Biofeedback has high-confidence evidence for migraine and tension-type headaches. Gut-directed hypnotherapy has evidence for irritable bowel syndrome. For......