EMG Training and Headache Reduction: Some Methodological Issues

Abstract

We’ve been running experiments on voluntary control of tension headaches since 1971, and our results have done nothing but cause problems for us. They simply are not orthodox. More specifically, they raise questions about the relationship of head and neck muscle tension to the etiology, onset, and control of tension headaches. And what is learned by our subjects does not appear to fit either the operant learning model or the skills learning model—not, at least, in any obvious way. This is, perhaps, not quite correct. Some skills are being learned and reinforcement of operant behavior does occur. The skills being learned, however, do not appear to be the ones we think we are training, and the reinforcement we are paying attention to docs not appear to be the one that is responsible for making the subject headache-free.