Recently , an interesting article on biofeedback therapy in children with migraine crossed my desk . The article , “ Biofeedback as Prophylaxis for Pediatric Migraine : A Meta-analysis ,” appeared in the online version of the journal , Pediatrics 2016 ; 138 . I found the article of special interest as I had written an article , almost 41 years ago on the same topic , “ Autogenic training with biofeedback in the treatment of children with migraine ” which appeared in Proceedings of Third Congress of the International College of Psychosomatic Medicine , Second International Symposium of Autogenic Therapy , Rome . September 16-20 , 1975 ; 190-192 .
The article in Pediatrics also brought back memories of those first few years that I introduced biofeedback to my patients . The lead author of the recent article , Ander Stubberud , is on staff at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology , in Trondheim , Norway . In 1980 , Ottar Sjaastad , MD , who was the Director of the Headache Institute in Trondheim visited me at the Diamond Headache Clinic and came to observe my patients who had been diagnosed with Chronic Paroxysmal Hemicrania . Also , he visited the biofeedback department that I had established at the Clinic in 1972 . Doctor Sjaastad was very critical of my use of biofeedback in the treatment of migraine and had expressed his views with other colleagues in headache medicine .
Now , in 2016 , I am happy that significance of biofeedback therapy in children with migraine has again been demonstrated via this recent article by the Trondheim group . It validates the fact that migraine research is in flux and should be open to new ideas regarding the causes and treatment of this disorder .
Seymour Diamond , M . D . Chicago , Illinois
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