pericranial

As the migraine headache increases in intensity, there is increasing tenderness of the pericranial muscles.

Intra-oral appliance are designed to relax the pericranial muscles, which have been reported to be tender in 100% of migraine sufferers during an attack.

The involvement of the pericranial muscles in migraine has been well documented, and muscle relaxation techniques have been used successfully to prevent migraine.

The anatomical structures that have been proven to be important in migraine are a) the pericranial (around the head) muscles, and b) the extracranial terminal branches of the external carotid artery.

This was confirmed in a literature search, which revealed that the presence of pericranial muscle tenderness in migraine had been extensively documented, and that there is focal pericranial (masticatory and cervical) muscle tenderness with associated referred symptoms that reproduce the headache pain.