Brain : a journal of neurology
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Using a new method to measure the hardness of pericranial muscles, the role of muscle factors in tension-type headache was evaluated. In 223 normal healthy subjects, the hardness of trapezius muscles was 82 +/- 15 kPa/cm (mean +/- SD). The muscle hardness in women, 92 +/- 17 kPa/cm, was significantly greater than that in men, 74 +/- 14 kPa/cm (P < 0.01). ⋯ Twenty-six patients (43% of the total) showed significantly high values which exceeded the mean +/- 2 SD (113 kPa/cm) of the normal value, while the remaining patients (57%) constituted a high normal group. The hardness of posterior neck muscles measured in 27 patients (99 +/- 21 kPa/cm) was also significantly greater than that in normal subjects (P < 0.01). There was no significant difference in muscle hardness between episodic tension-type headache and chronic tension-type headache.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)