The effect of balance rehabilitation on pain, physical function and depression level in women with chronic migraine

. Our study was planned to investigate the effects of balance rehabilitation on pain, physical function and depression level on women with chronic migraine. Twenty-four female patients with chronic migraine headache were included in the study. The patients were divided into two groups as exercise group and control group on a voluntary basis. Before participating in the study, patients' headache severity is validated with Short Form McGill Pain Questionnaire, number of days with headache, physical function; disability level MIDAS, physical activity level International Physical Activity Questionnaire (IPAQ), static and dynamic balance Berg Balance Scale, Single Leg Stance Test, and L Test, fear of falling Fall Efficacy Scale-International (FES-1 ), sleep quality (Pittsburgh Sleep Quality İndex), quality of life Short Form 36 (SF- 36), depression level Beck Depression Scale(BDS) . Exercise group (N=12) joined the telerehabilitation and face-to-face sessions. The control group (N=12) continued pharmacological treatment. During the 10 weeks, the exercise group participated in telerehabilitation sessions three times a week, and face-to-face treatment once every 2 weeks. At the end of the 10-week treatment, all questionnaires were repeated for both groups. When the pre-treatment and post-treatment groups were compared, there was a decrease in the severity of headache, and the number of days with headache, the fear of falling and an increase in the level of moderate physical activity (p<0.05) in the exercise group; static balance parameters and quality of life, physical function, physical role difficulty and bodily pain parameters were found to be improved. In the control group, there was a decrease in the sensory score of SF-MPQ and an improvement in sleep quality (p<0.05). As a result of the comparisons between the groups, it was determined that there was more improvement in the severity of headache, number of days with headache, Bodily Pain parameter of quality of life, and moderate physical activity level in the exercise group (p<0.05). Our results showed that balance rehabilitation was determined by the parameters of headache severity, number of days with headache and physical function in women with chronic migraine; It shows that it is effective in increasing the static balance and physical activity level, and reducing the fear of falling. Key words: Chronic migraine, balance exercises, pain, disability, physical activity level