En Grupp Patienters Upplevelse av Sjukgymnastisk Huvudvärksbehandling

There are several treatment methods that are used by physiotherapists to treat migraine and tension type-headache (TTH). The effects of these methods have been evaluated in previous studies. However, there are few studies evaluating headache patients own perception of the treatment. The purpose of this study was both to examine the patient’s perception of the physiotherapy headache treatment and to examine if the treatment had effect on their quality of life. The study had a qualitative, descriptive design. Five patients with migraine and/or TTH who had their physiotherapy treatment at the Department of Physiotherapy, Division of neuroscience, Uppsala university hospital were interviewed about their perceptions. An interviewguide was composed and the interviews were recorded, transcribed and analyzed according to a qualitative content analysis by the authors. The informants perceived the collaboration between physiotherapist and patient as important. The informants stated that they preferred to perform some of the activities individually instead of in a group. The general quality of life among the informants increased from the start of the treatment to after the treatment. The informants perceived that they had lowered their own level of stress and demands and that they had become more accepting towards themselves and their headache. There would be of further interest to make a larger study to examine the interaction between physiotherapist and patient in the treatment session, and to examine the treatment result in individual versus group treatment.