Acute Effects of Orthopedic Manual Therapy on Pain and Cervicothoracic Angle in Cervicogenic Headache

This uncontrolled quasi-experimental pretest–posttest study aimed to investigate the acute effects of a single session of orthopedic manual therapy (OMT) on pain intensity and the cervicothoracic angle in individuals diagnosed with cervicogenic headache (CGH). Forty individuals (27 females, 13 males) diagnosed with cervicogenic headache were included in the study. Pain intensity was assessed using the Visual Analog Scale (VAS), and changes in the cervicothoracic angle were evaluated using the mobile application-based ACPP CORE2 Posture Measurement program. All participants received a single session of orthopedic manual therapy consisting of myofascial release, trigger point release, cervical mobilization, and suboccipital distraction techniques, and measurements were repeated before and after the intervention. The mean age of the participants was 41.02±8.71 years. Following OMT, statistically significant reductions were observed in both pain intensity and cervicothoracic angle measurements (P=0.001). The findings suggest that a single session of orthopedic manual therapy may be effective in reducing pain intensity and improving the cervicothoracic angle in individuals with cervicogenic headache. However, due to the pilot nature of the study, the absence of a control group, and the lack of follow-up assessment, these results should be interpreted with caution.