Headache is the most common symptom following traumatic brain injury (TBI), occurring in up to 90% of people who have an injury. Headache following TBI is termed post-traumatic headache (PTH) and usually begins within the first week, the headache commonly resembles migraine and shares many features including a moderate/severe throbbing character, nausea and/or vomiting, light and noise sensitivity.
Post-traumatic headache is a leading cause of disability following head injury and is closely linked to other key symptoms such as balance and dizziness, cognitive function, mental health and social function. There is great variation in the character and symptoms associated with PTH. Capturing this complexity renders deep phenotyping of headache crucial to this study. There is no current specific treatment for PTH and currently treatment usually follows that of migraine. Patients with pre-injury headache have substantially worse physical and cognitive symptoms than patients with no headache. Importantly PTH intensity has an adverse impact on the ability to return to duty, work or play following injury.
Recently new headache therapies for PTH have emerged, but accurate identification of those who will go on to develop long term sequelae is still lacking and will be essential to target early treatment.
Lead Researchers