Citation

Rahmani Z, Kochanek A, Astrup JJ, Poulsen JN, Gazerani P. Scand. J. Pain 2017; 16(1): e183.

Affiliation

Department of Health Science and Technology, Faculty of Medicine, Aalborg University, Aalborg, Denmark.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2017, Elsevier Publishing)

DOI

10.1016/j.sjpain.2017.04.054

PMID

29864991

Abstract

Aims Headache is a leading reason to seek medical care. Several subtypes of headaches have been defined, one of which is external compression headache. This headache is due to an external physical compression applied on the head. It affects approximately 4% of the general population; however, certain populations for example construction workers and military personnel with particular needs of headwear or helmet are at higher risk for development of this type of headache. Generally, external compression headache is poorly studied and there is no report on helmet-induced headache among Danish military personnel. This survey-based study was designed to investigate prevalence and pattern of helmet-induced external compression headache among these personnel.

METHODS Questionnaires were carefully developed and delivered to a total of 279 participants who use helmets in the Danish military service. The military of the Northern Jutland region of Denmark facilitated recruitment of study participants. Questionnaires were delivered on paper and anonymous answers were collected and used for further analysis. Data were handled using descriptive statistics.

RESULTS Up to 30% of the participants reported headache in relation to wearing the military helmet. Headache was defined as moderate intensity with pressing pain quality mostly located in front of the head. Two types of helmets in this study were different in the weight and padding of the inner part and delivered different pattern of pressure; while one evenly delivered pressure on multiple head regions, the other delivered pressure mostly on the sides and top of the head. This suggests that helmet pressure and headache location might be associated.

CONCLUSIONS This study was first to demonstrate prevalence and pattern of helmet-induced headache among military personnel in North Jutland, Denmark.

FINDINGS of this study call for further attention to helmet-induced headache and strategies to minimize the burden, for example by design of appropriate helmets.

Language: en