An overview of headache treatments during the tenth century.

Although the history of treating headaches spans thousands of years, scientists during the tenth century made unique and significant contributions to understanding, treating, and preventing the development of headaches. In fact, the tenth century saw the ability to differentiate between types of headache and treatments for the first time. This article looks at the contributions of Persian, Anglo-Saxon, and Chinese medicine to the diagnosis and treatment of different types of headaches in the tenth century. It does so with reference to a range of herbal, surgical, and pharmacological methods of treating this ailment. The article also uncovers how tenth-century herbal remedies were effective at explaining the properties of their ingredients in modern terms and concepts including analgesia, anti-inflammation, and antinociception, and explores the way tenth-century treatments relieved painful headaches and prevented their recurrence.

A Historical Review of Headaches: Who First Described Them and When did This Occur?

BACKGROUND: Headache is as old as human history and has been able to report, and the first descriptions were found in Greece and Mesopotamia. OBJECTIVE: Our objective was to know the date of the first description of ICHD-3 headaches, with their respective author. METHODS: We searched for articles that addressed the historical aspects of primary and secondary headaches and painful cranial neuropathies. RESULTS: Twenty-seven different headaches were analyzed according to the occurrence of their first description, with the respective author and country of origin. CONCLUSIONS: The knowledge of the first description of ICHD-3 headaches, with their respective author, showed us how and when the different headaches appeared over the years.

Headaches in the medieval Medical School of Salerno.

PREMISE: Headaches are a serious public health concern of our days, affecting about 50% of the world's adult population. However, such a plague is not limited to the modern era, since ancient archaeological, written, religious and cultural evidences testify to countless attempts to face such disorders from medical, neurosurgical, psychological and sociological perspectives. BACKGROUND: Substantially, the Hippocratic and Galenic theories about headache physiopathology remained predominant up to the 17th century, when the vascular theory of migraine was introduced by Thomas Willis and then evolved into the actual neurovascular hypothesis. The medieval Medical School of Salerno, in southern Italy, where the Greco-Roman medical doctrine was deeply affected by the medio-oriental influence, gave particular attention to both prevention and treatment of headaches. CONCLUSION: The texts of the School, a milestone in the literature of medicine, translated into different languages and widespread throughout Europe for centuries, provide numerous useful recipes and ingredients with an actually proven pharmacological efficacy.

The Relationship between Blood Circulation and Exercise Headache before and after the Publication of De Motu Cordis (1628): Comparison between the Scientific Thought of Girolamo Mercuriale (1530-1606) and Bernardino Ramazzini (1633-1714).

The relationship between physical activity, sports and headache is a topic of growing interest as testified by a variety of recently published papers. This correlation dates back to the Classical Age. The aim of this study is to understand how the concept of headache of vascular origin has evolved after the publication of the book De motu cordis by William Harvey (1578-1657). We analyzed and compared the books De arte gymnastica written by Girolamo Mercuriale (1601 edition) and De Morbis Artificum Diatriba written by Bernardino Ramazzini (1713 edition) focusing our attention on headache in the sportsman. By studying the De morbis artificum diatriba, it is clear that its description of the etiopathogenesis of exercise headache of cardiovascular origin is much more complete and precise than the one provided in De arte gymnastica. The limits of scientific knowledge of his time put Mercuriale at disadvantage, since cardiovascular physiology was not elucidated until 1628 with the publication of De motu cordis.

History of NSAID Use in the Treatment of Headaches Pre and Post-industrial Revolution in the United States: the Rise and Fall of Antipyrine, Salicylic Acid, and Acetanilide.

PURPOSE OF REVIEW: Non-steroid anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) constitute a vital class of medications in today's headache regimen. However, up until the nineteenth century, they were largely unknown to most of the medical community. The purpose of this review is to explore the evolution of NSAIDs in the treatment of headaches spurred on by the Industrial Revolution in the USA. RECENT FINDINGS: The currently available data on the impact of NSAIDs reflects their significant contribution to headache treatment. The emergence of mass production spurred on by the Industrial Revolution, lead to widespread use of antipyrine, salicylic acid, and acetanilide. However, along with it came the growing awareness of consumer safety, leading to their ultimate downfall, and the subsequent birth of the Food and Drug Act.

Headache Attributed to Aeroplane Travel: An Historical Outline.

INTRODUCTION: Headache attributed to aeroplane travel (AH) is one of the new nosological entries in the International Classification of Headache Disorders (ICHD) 3 beta. MATERIALS AND METHODS: This study retraces the history of headache related to flight, from the initial description to the modern reports, on the basis of original sources. RESULTS: Head pain related to flight has been reported since the beginning of flight era. However, most of those early cases are easily recognized as secondary to an exceptional barotrauma and/or a sinusitis concomitant with the flight. Instead, contemporary research identified a new nosological entity, AH, which by definition occurs in normal flying conditions and in absence of any sinus pathology. Moreover, we identified recently similar forms of headache, triggered by sudden changes of external pressure (rapid descent from mountain, mountain descent headache, MDH); and ascent from diving, diving ascent headache (DAH). CONCLUSION: Head pain related to flight has been reported since the origin of aviation, but it was caused by an exceptional barotrauma or a respiratory infection. Instead, AH occurs in normal flying conditions. Two newly identified conditions, MDH and DAH, appear to share a common pathogenetic mechanism with AH: namely the imbalance between intrasinusal and external air pressure. Therefore, we assert that an expansion of this entity of AH is something that should be considered in the next ICHD.

Sports, physical activity and headache in the classical age: historical descriptions from the first sports textbook, "De arte gymnastica", by Girolamo Mercuriale.

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: The relationship between physical activity, sports and headache presents a growing interest, testified by numerous papers recently published. The correlation between headache and sporting activities or physical exercise dates back to the classical age. We aim at promoting the development of more studies focused on the relationship between headache and physical activity. METHODS: We analysed the book "De arte gymnastica", written by Girolamo Mercuriale (Forlì, Italy, 1530-1606), and considered the first "sports medical textbook". We discuss these classical literature findings in the light of the International Classification of Headache Disorders, 3rd edition. RESULTS: The Author's work derives from the systematic revision of Greek, Roman and Arabic literatures about the matter. Despite some references to inveterate headaches or cold-related pains, Mercuriale does not gather specific clinical characterisations of different types of headache. However, interestingly, he reports detailed descriptions of how the same sport, or the same physical activity, could cause or give relief from head pain, depending on the precise way of practising. Mercuriale summarises 18 sports or physical activities that can give relief from headache; conversely, running or heavy activities, such as boxing, appear among the 12 contraindicated sports for people suffering from headache. CONCLUSIONS: "De arte gymnastica", by Girolamo Mercuriale, is the first textbook on sports medicine. Headache if often cited along the treatise: different sports and physical activities, or various ways of practising the same action could produce opposite effects for people suffering from headache.

Italian folk plant-based remedies to heal headache (XIX-XX century).

BACKGROUND: Headache has been recognized since antiquity. From the late nineteenth to the early to mid-twentieth century, Italian folk remedies to treat headache were documented in a vast corpus of literature sources. AIM: The purpose of this paper is to bring to light the plant-based treatments utilized by Italian folk medicine to heal headache in an attempt to discuss these remedies from a modern pharmacological point of view. Moreover, we compare the medical applications described by Hippocrates, Pliny the Elder, Dioscorides, Galen and Serenus Sammonicus with those utilized by Italian folk medicine to check if they result from a sort of continuity of use by over two thousand years. RESULTS: A detailed search of the scientific data banks such as Medline and Scopus was undertaken to uncover recent results concerning the anti-inflammatory, anti-nociceptive and analgesic activities of the plants. Fifty-eight (78.4%) plant-based remedies have shown in vivo, in vitro or in human trials a large spectrum of anti-inflammatory, anti-nociceptive and analgesic activities. Moreover, thirty-one of remedies (41.9%) were already included in the pharmacopoeia between the 5th century BC and the 2nd century AD. CONCLUSION: Italian folk medicine could be a promising source of knowledge and could provide evidences for active principles that have not as of yet been fully used for their potential.

Sexual headache from view point of Avicenna and traditional Persian medicine.

One of the best remaining manuscripts is the "Canon of Medicine" fathered by Avicenna in the Islamic Golden Age [ninth to twelfth century AD]. Considering Avicenna's role in the development of medical science in the Islamic Golden Age, we reviewed Avicenna's point of view on sexual headache based on his famous book "Canon of Medicine". This historical review discusses the clinical approaches applied to diagnose, classify, and treat sexual headache-specifically herbal therapy-from the viewpoint of Avicenna and Traditional Persian Medicine. The accurate observations of Avicenna give a comprehensive classified etiology of the sexual headache. The efficacy of some medicinal herbs used by him for sexual headache treatments, such as the analgesic effect of lavender, chamomile, and jasmine has been proved by current medicine; however, the knowledge of medieval physicians should be scientifically investigated even further to extend new remedial options for sexual headache.

Cajal's unbearable cephalalgias: The consequences of a misdiagnosis.

Around the age of 66 Cajal consulted neurologist Nicolas Achúcarro complaining of "unbearable cephalalgias". He had not ever suffered from headaches. The diagnosis of early arteriosclerosis that was considered at the time a physiological, irreversible ailment of ageing had a strong emotional impact on Cajal. Comorbid depression, insomnia and self-treatment with escalating doses of Veronal® (barbital), a short-acting barbiturate, presumably aggravated the situation. Exposure to warm environments and being involved in tense discussions were identified as triggering factors of the headaches. Achúcarro and Cajal were probably assuming scientific concepts at the time, such as cerebral congestion, increased temperature at the cerebral cortex during mental activity and vasoconstriction and vasodilatation phenomena. Up to his death aged 82, no evidence was discovered of any organic nervous system disorder. Cajal remained anxious up to the end of his life fearing an impending cerebral haemorrhage. The diagnosis was followed by profound lifestyle changes such as social isolation, which forced him to leave his laboratory. Cajal's cephalalgias marked in some way the end of the Spanish school of neurohistology.

The study of headache in the 1950s in Latin America by Edgard Raffaelli Júnior (1930-2006).

The aim of this study was to review the life of Edgard Raffaelli Júnior (1930-2006) and to summarize his important contributions to the study of headaches. He was the first doctor to study headaches in Latin America, and for 50 years he advanced the understanding of headaches worldwide. He was born in São Paulo, Brazil, on March 2, 1930 and died on December 29, 2006. He founded the Brazilian Headache Society and was one of the organizers and founders of the International Headache Society. Following Raffaelli, many Latin American doctors have since been inspired to study headaches.