Oxygen therapies may ease headache pain

Two forms of oxygen therapy may help manage two types of debilitating headache pain, a new research review suggests.

In a review of nine small clinical trials, the researchers found that hyperbaric oxygen therapy showed promise for halting pain during migraine attacks. A similar treatment -- normobaric, or normal-pressure, oxygen therapy -- eased pain in people suffering from cluster headaches.

The findings are published in the Cochrane Library, a publication of the Cochrane Collaboration, an international organization that evaluates medical research.

Hyperbaric oxygen therapy involves breathing pure oxygen in a sealed, pressurized chamber. With normobaric oxygen therapy, patients breathe pure oxygen from a portable unit under normal conditions.

Normal-pressure oxygen has long been used for severe headache pain, and there is some evidence that hyperbaric oxygen could be helpful, but few controlled clinical trials have evaluated the therapies.

None of the two forms of oxygen therapy prevented future headache attacks, however, lead researcher Dr. Michael H. Bennett, of Prince of Wales Hospital in Randwick, Australia, told Reuters Health.

Bonnie - for those looking for another complementary, non-drug therapy, it is certainly worth a try.