Impaired cervical proprioception and its relationship with intensity, frequency, and duration of headache in people with migraine

Aim Although loss of cervical position sense is common in neurological diseases and migraine especially affects the head and neck region of the body, cervical position sense has not comprehensively been assessed for people with migraine (PwM). Therefore, the primary aim was to compare cervical position sense between PwM and healthy people. The secondary aim was to investigate the relationship between cervical proprioception and headache intensity, frequency, and duration for PwM. Materials and methods This cross-sectional study included 68 PwM and 68 healthy people. Cervical proprioception was evaluated using the Joint Position Sense (JPS) test and Fremantle Neck Awareness Questionnaire (FreNAQ). Headache severity was assessed with the Numeric Pain Rating Scale (NPRS) and a structured form was used to evaluate headache frequency, and duration. Results Compared to healthy people, PwM had higher repositioning errors on the JPS in all directions (flexion, extension, right and left rotation) (p < 0.001) and had greater values in FreNAQ (p < 0.001). There was a fair correlation between cervical JPS and headache intensity, frequency, and duration in PwM (p < 0.05). Conclusions PwM had impaired cervical position sense. Impaired cervical position sense was also related to headache intensity, frequency, and duration. These findings suggest that evaluation of cervical position sense should be taken into consideration in the clinic of migraine.