Watson Headache® Institute & University of South Australia
Collaborative Research: Dr Dean Watson PhD (Musculoskeletal Physiotherapist) & Dr Julie Walters PhD (School of Health Sciences)
Through collaboration our goal is to support those living with headache and migraine by improved understanding and empathy. We invite you to become involved in projects which we list only after review and approval by the University of South Australia Research Human Ethics Committee. Enquiries are received in the strictest confidence.
Part 1 - Language of Migraine: What Should Migraine Be Called?
Words are important, especially when you’re talking about people and their health. Wherever we look, different words are used to describe what migraine is - ‘disease’, ‘syndrome’, a ‘disorder of the nervous system’, and people with migraine are called ‘sufferers’, ‘migraineurs’ or‘people affected by migraine.
Thank you: Part 1 of survey has been completed.
Part 2 - Language of Migraine: What Should Migraine Be Called?
Words are important, especially when you’re talking about people and their health. Wherever we look, different words are used to describe what migraine is - ‘disease’, a ‘disorder of the nervous system’, ‘syndrome’, and people with migraine are called ‘sufferers’, ‘people affected by migraine, or ‘migraineurs’. If you experience migraine and would like to be involved, please follow this link to survey monkey:
Migraine: The Lived Experience (An Anonymous Survey).
Too often the experience of migraine is diminished into days absent from work, pain scores, symptom frequency, and need for medications. We would like to hear your story, in your words. Below is a link to a short (less than 10 minutes) anonymous survey that asks about your migraine experience.
Case Study Series
... Headache associated conditions including migraine, post-traumatic/ tension-type and cluster headache all contribute significant world-wide disability. Although they are considered pathologically unique, all have trigeminal dysfunction in common, which given the convergence of the cervical and trigeminal neural pathways, may mean that they could be influenced by an intervention delivered to the neck. As clinicians, we have seen patients improve and the aim of this case series is to gather empirical evidence to help to explain what we observe clinically. The clinicians listed below, are part of an international collaboration of physiotherapists committed to actively contribute to the research needed to help individuals living with headache associated conditions. Each in their clinical practice, sees a large number of people living with headache.
Please Click Clinican Names Below To View Bios.
The Art of Migraine
... A Single-arm, Pre Post Test Pilot Study. To date, art and music have largely been used therapeutically (i.e. art therapy), however there is increasing interest in arts based research where artwork is produced for knowledge production and to convey ideas within a health context (Fraser & Sayah 2011). This art based research study has the potential to pose and answer a wide variety of health questions (Boydell et al 2016) and may provide an opportunity for individuals with migraine to communicate their experience more accurately. If you experience migraine and would like to be involved in this research, please express interest using the link below. You will be contacted by a member of the research team and provided with additional information about the study over the telephone and assessed for eligibility.
The Effect of Physiotherapy
... Assessment of the Neck on Pupil Dilation in Adults with Migraine with Aura, Cluster Headache and Post Traumatic Headache. Whilst an identifiable cause for migraine remains an enigma, there is widespread agreement that fundamental to migraine, cluster headache and post traumatic/concussion headache is a sensitised brainstem. The purpose of this research is to determine whether cervical manual therapy examination alters autonomic function in those with migraine with aura, cluster headache or post traumatic headache. If you experience migraine, cluster headache or post traumatic/concussion headache and would like to be involved in this research, please express interest using the link below. You will be contacted by a member of the research team and provided with additional information about the study over the telephone and assessed for eligibility.
Case Study Series Collaborators
Watson Headache® Institute (Dr Dean Watson) and the University of South Australia (Dr Julie Walters)
under a collaborative research agreement.