Is Exercise Better for Migraines Than Medicine?

Migraine headaches are one of the more painful tension headaches. They decrease your quality of life and can literally make you sick. Most people just take the pills and learn to live with it.

But a new Swedish study says exercise is the better treatment. There was not enough evidence before to show if it really helped. But now, at the Sahlgrenska Academy, at the University of Gothenburg Sweden shows that exercise is as good as any drug for a migraine headache.

Doctors use a lot of different ways to prevent migraines nowadays. While a drug that has topiramate in it works well, while non-medical treatment such as exercise has also proven to work well. In a randomized study, the researchers at the University have now studied how well exercise works as a preventive treatment as opposed to topiramate.

In a study of 91 people, divided up into three groups. One group did regular exercising for forty minutes a day, for three months. The second group were to do relaxation type exercises, the last group was given topiramate. All three groups were studied for the same three month period. They were tracked during this time on the physical activity, quality of life, aerobic capacity and the level of their migraines.

The study showed the migraines fell in all three groups by the number of migraine attacks, days with migraines per month, how strong it was, and amount of medication used to deal with any migraines. , regardless of treatment. After the treatment period, their oxygen uptake increased alot.

People with migraines and frequent headaches usually don't exercise, which results in less endurance for exercise and flexibility. Therefore, it is becoming crucial that people with migraines should seek help from their Dr's to get the right amount of exercise along with any medical treatment.

Source:

ScienceDaily