Abstract
The inclusion of orthopedic manual therapy in the diagnosis and treatment of cervicogenic headaches (CGH) has resurfaced as a topic of interest within the field of physical therapy. The use of manual therapy approaches in the evaluation and treatment for CGH continues to evolve and grow as higher level pieces of research are published. The underlying culprit of CGH is a mechanical dysfunction of the cervical spine (Becker, 2010). Recent studies have provided results that support the use of manual therapy to the cervical spine, as well as to the temporomandibular joint, thoracic spine, and first rib, in order to relieve pain, increase range of motion (ROM) and improve overall quality of for patients who suffer from this chronic disorder (Von Piekartz & Ludtke, 2011; Masaracchio, Cleland, Hellman & Hagins, 2013). Manual examination skills have also shown to have high sensitivity and specificity in diagnosing CGH (Jull, Amiri, Bullock-Saxton, Darnell, & Lander, 2007). For this reason, manual approaches for both diagnosing and treating the mechanical dysfunction underlying CGH are investigated. The case study involves a 35-year old woman who presented to orthopedic outpatient physical therapy with signs and symptoms suggestive of cervicogenic headache. The purpose of the case report is to reflect the reorganization and synthesis of extant information of orthopedic manual physical therapy interventions for patients with cervicogenic headaches that took place with completion of the investigator's independent study. In addition, the presentation of this case report provides the clinical reasoning behind the orthopedic manual therapy examination and treatment of a patient with cervicogenic headaches and discusses the outcomes of her plan of care.