Effectiveness of neural mobilization and postural correction on pain and cranio-vertebral angle in cervicogenic headache – a comparative study

Background: Cervicogenic headache is a syndrome characterized by chronic hemi-cranial pain thatis referred to head from either bony structure or soft tissue of the neck. Adverse neyrodymanics as well as altered biomechanics of the cervical spine contribute to this. Objective: This study identifies the effect of neural mobilization and postural correction exercises on reducing pain and improving cranio-vertebral angle in patients with cervicogenic headache. Methods: 30 patients who were diagnosed with cervicogenic headache were divided in to two equal groups. Group A received neural mobilization and postural correction exercises whereas the other group (B) received postural correction exercises alone. Analysis was performed using t test between the pre and post-test values. Results: It was found that both group demonstrated significant improvement (p<0.05). On analysing mean difference, it was identified that group A showed more improvement than group B in terms of HIT-6 (-8.66 vs. -1.7) and improvements in cranio-vertebral angle (5.82 vs. 3.6). Conclusion: We conclude that administering neural mobilization and postural correction together will provide better results in the treatment of cervicogenic headache.