The Use Of Botox For Headache Relief

Botox has shown promise in relieving both migraine and tension headaches. It was originally used for treatment of crossed eyes and twisted necks. Most people have heard of it's use for reducing wrinkles in the face and around the eyes. Many patients who received it for cosmetic purposes found a significacnt relief in headache pain. A number of research studies have been done that have shown its effectiveness for headache relief. Over 30 million people in the U.S. suffer from chronic disability of chronic headaches.

Botulinum Toxin Type A (Botox) is a new therapeutic option for the preventive treatment of migraine and chronic tension type headache. It offers several advantages over current drug therapy. Injections are given every three to four months. Using botox can reduce or even eliminate the need for preventative or pain killing drugs. There are few side effects from the injections, except for minimal discomfort at the time of injection. On occasion, drooping of the eyelid can occur. On rare occasions patients get aching in injected muscles, usually for just a couple days. Partial paralyzes of muscles is botox's mechanism of action. The use of botox has often shown a reduction in pain that is more significant than it's action on the muscles themselves. Researchers believe that small fibers in the muscles that contain pain-producing chemicals are "short circuited" by botox. It is also possible that there are other mechanisms of action for the effect of Botulinum injections.

Muscles surrounding the eyes and forehead are injected with small amounts of Botulinum toxin. Usually the muscles between the eyebrows and above the eyes are injected in each of 4-6 different injections. Thereafter, a series of three injections are made around the outside of the eye on the side. Then injections are made into the temporal region and sometimes the jaw where the masseter muscle is located. Patients who experience frontal pain with their headaches receive these types of injections. For those patients that have headaches involving the entire head, injections may be given down the back of the neck and down onto the shoulders. Botox is potentially a great new treatment for migraine. The success rate using botox for chronic muscle tension headaches is about 87%. It also has been found to be ffective in some patients who are not responding to any type of migraine preventive therapy. Though it has great potential, Botox will not work for every patient It is however, one more weapon to use in the headache relief battle.


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A distinctive approach to the treatment of Headaches using Neuromuscular dentistry. Botox is a temporary fix, Neuromuscular dentistry is a long term headache solution.