Effect of prayer on intensity of migraine headache: a randomized clinical trial
Journal of Evidence-Based Complementary & Alternative Medicine, 02/15/2016
Migraine is a common form of headache that affects patients quality of life negatively. In addition to pharmacologic treatment, there are a variety of nonpharmacologic treatments for migraine headache. In present study, the authors examined the effect of prayer on intensity of migraine pain. The present study revealed that prayer can be used as a nonpharmacologic pain coping strategy in addition to pharmacologic intervention for this group of patients.
Methods
- In a prospective, randomized, controlled trial from October 2013 to June 2014, this study has been conducted in Kerman, Iran.
- The authors randomly assigned 92 patients in 2 groups to receive either 40 mg of propranolol twice a day for 2 month (group “A”) or 40 mg of propranolol twice a day for 2 months with prayer (group “B”).
- At the beginning of study and 3 months after intervention, patients’ pain was measured using the visual analogue scale.
Results
- At the beginning of study and before intervention, the mean score of pain in patients in groups A and B were 5.7 ± 1.6 and 6.5 ± 1.9, respectively.
- According to results of independent t test, mean score of pain intensity at the beginning of study were similar between patients in 2 groups (P > .05).
- Three month after intervention, mean score of pain intensity decreased in patients in both groups.
- At this time, the mean scores of pain intensity were 5.4 ± 1.1 and 4.2 ± 2.3 in patients in groups A and B, respectively.
- This difference between groups was statistically significant (P < .001).