Preliminary results, methodological considerations and recruitment difficulties of a randomised clinical trial comparing two treatment regimens for patients with headache and neck pain

Table 1 Baseline characteristics and differences between both treatment groups

	UC (n = 19)	UCMT (n = 18)	Sign.
Gender (M/F Ratio)	3/16	6/12	ns
Age (years, mean ± SD)	43.32 y ± 14.02 y	43.11 y ± 15.01 y	ns
Headache frequency (n)
Daily	15	18	ns
Location Headache (n)
Bilateral	8	6	ns
Bilateral dominant side	3	4	ns
Unilateral shifting	7	3	ns
Unilateral side locked	2	6	ns
Headache history
> 1 year (n)	15	18
Specification of headache duration (years; mean ± SD)	12.50 y ± 12.21 y	13.00 y ± 8.05 y	ns
Neck Pain Present (n)	18	16	ns
HIT-6 score (mean ± SD)	61.26 p ± 6.65 p	62.56 p ± 7.6 p	ns
Average Pain Intensity (VAS [mm]; mean ± SD)
HA 4 weeks	67.64 ± 16.05	70.87 ± 20.16	ns
HA 3 months	66,26 ± 18,58	65.88 ± 18.38	ns
NP 3 months	45.67 ± 20.90	44.53 ± 20.23	ns
SP 3 months	19.11 ± 24.27	20.59 ± 20.07	ns

Numbers represent the proportion of the entire group which has a certain characteristic, unless specified otherwise. UC: Usual Care, UCMT: Usual Care plus Manual therapy, HIT-6: Headache Impact Test, 6 items (scores can range from 36-78 points), HA: Headache, NP: Neck Pain, SP: Shoulder Pain. VAS: Visual Analogue Scale (0 mm - 100 mm [0 = no pain; 100 = unbearable pain]), Sign.: Significant. ns: not significant (p > .05)

ISSN: 1471-2474