Headache Press Releases

Some veterans who experience blast-related head injuries can develop the same kind of long-term brain damage seen in athletes who have had multiple head injuries on the playing field. The finding expands the potential public health impact of chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE) – the name for degenerative changes in the brain that sometimes occur after a history of multiple concussions.

NIH announced the members of the new Interagency Pain Research Coordinating Committee chaired by NINDS Director Story Landis, Ph.D. The IPRCC includes researchers, members of nonprofit public advocacy organizations, and representatives from 7 federal agencies that deal with pain research and patient care.

Concussions used to be thought of as simple injuries. Nowhere was this view more prevalent than in sports, where common practice dictated that players could quickly return to the field once symptoms ended. Now researchers are learning that sports-related concussions are very complicated injuries and that even the mildest ones may cause hidden, long-lasting problems.

Most migraine sufferers know that light can intensify headache pain. A new study of blind patients with migraine may help explain why. The finding ultimately may lead to new approaches for calming severe light-induced headaches.

When a child is rushed to the emergency room with an acute headache, the goal for both parents and doctors is to determine if a serious neurological condition might be causing the pain. One option is to perform a computed tomography (CT) scan to aid diagnosis. But a new study offers evidence that CT scans are of little benefit for diagnosing headache in young children who have normal neurological exams and no history of serious problems.

The National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS) has appointed four new members to its major advisory panel, the National Advisory Neurological Disorders and Stroke Council. The NINDS, a component of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), is the nation's primary supporter of basic, translational, and clinical research on the brain and nervous system. NINDS Director Story Landis, Ph.D., formally introduced the new members, who will serve through July 2012, at the Council's September 18, meeting.

Migraine headaches are a source of disabling pain for millions of people.  Now, a study in mice suggests that these headaches may be linked to tiny areas of stroke-like brain damage.  The findings suggest that treatment to prevent migraines may also prevent longer-term cognitive problems.

The National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS), a component of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), announced the launch of a new community education program, which broadens the Institute’s national stroke education campaign "Know Stroke. Know the Signs. Act in Time." to promote stroke awareness among Hispanics in the United States.

Despite conventional wisdom that epileptic seizures are random and unforeseeable, a new study shows that people can sometimes anticipate them, hinting at the possibility of treatments that could quell an oncoming seizure.

Each year, more than 700,000 Americans have a stroke. Stroke is the third leading cause of death and the leading cause of long-term disability in the U.S. The disease also disproportionately affects Hispanics. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Hispanics 35-64 years old are 1.3 times more likely to have a stroke than whites in the same age group. Today, the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS) released a Spanish video designed to educate Hispanic communities nationwide about stroke prevention and treatment.

To help older adults learn more about the signs and symptoms of stroke and the need to act quickly, the National Institutes of Health is adding four new topics on stroke to its NIHSeniorHealth web site: Act Quickly, Warnings Signs and Risk Factors, What Happens during a Stroke, and Treatments and Research. The site features easy-to-read stroke information, developed by the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS), and may be found at www.nihseniorhealth.gov.

Results of the first-ever autopsy study of brains from people with restless legs syndrome (RLS) suggest that the disorder may result from inefficient processing of iron in certain brain cells. The findings provide a possible explanation for this disorder and may lead to new ways of treating the disease.
Fact Sheet

African Americans are more likely to suffer strokes and recover from them at a slower rate than whites, and these differences are not simply the result of greater stroke severity. According to Ronnie D. Horner, Ph.D., program director at the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS), and leader of a recently published study, research has found that African Americans who delay their post-stroke rehabilitation recover at a significantly slower rate than whites who experience the same rehabilitation delay. Recovery rates are even lower among low-income African Americans.
Fact Sheet

For years, physicians have noticed surprising similarities in the factors that seem to trigger attacks in such episodic neurological disorders as migraine and dyskinesia. Common triggers include psychological stress, caffeine or alcohol ingestion, fatigue, hormonal fluctuations and exercise. A new study shows that a mouse model can be used to investigate how these substances and environmental factors trigger symptomatic attacks. The researchers also identified two drugs that can prevent attacks of such disorders in mice.

Only a fraction of stroke patients each year are getting to the hospital in time to receive a treatment that makes the difference between disability and full recovery. Thousands more people could benefit from the treatment—a drug called tissue plasminogen activator (t-PA)—but do not, often because they do not know the symptoms of stroke or do not get to the hospital within the drug's 3-hour window of effectiveness. The National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS) is launching a national public education campaign, 'Know Stroke: Know the Signs. Act in Time,' to help people overcome these barriers and to get medical help in time.
Fact Sheet

Stress management techniques such as relaxation and biofeedback can help treat chronic tension headaches, especially in combination with medicine, according to research funded by the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS). Results of the first placebo-controlled trial comparing medicines alone vs. medicine plus stress management appear in the May 2, 2001, issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association.
Fact Sheet

The National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke, a component of the National Institutes of Health, said today that few eligible stroke patients receive treatments that can significantly reduce disability and save lives.

A new study shows that most people can't identify even one symptom of stroke -- the number one cause of disability and the third leading cause of death in this country. And the people most likely to suffer a stroke -- those over 75 years old -- are the least likely to know the symptoms of stroke and whether they're at risk for having a stroke.

Pain is an extremely disabling condition leading to an annual cost of $65 billion lost in work productivity and 4 billion work days. It also accounts for 40 million visits per year to physicians for "new" pain and $3 billion in sales each year of over-the-counter analgesics. Scientists studying animal models with support from the National Institutes of Health have found that a chemical, called neurokinin A, may be responsible for the body's response to moderate-to-intense pain. This finding, reported in the March 26, 1998, issue of Nature, may eventually lead to new treatments for pain.

Patients with a painful and debilitating muscle disease called dermatomyositis showed dramatic improvement on a treatment regimen of intravenous immune globulin (IVIG) during a recent double-blind, placebo-controlled trial. The study, which was conducted at the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS), will be published in the December 30 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine.
Fact Sheet