Could stem cells reduce migraine or headache frequency and severity? Anecdotes and at least one study indicate they could be useful for migraine. They’ve also been studied for traumatic brain injury and trigeminal pain, according to James from Headache and Migraine News. Stem cells are used for a variety of inflammatory conditions, so their potential efficacy for migraine and headache is not unexpected.
Headache specialist Dr. Alexander Mauskop wrote about stem cells form migraine and headache last week, which is the first time I’d heard of the connection. He describes the research and why stem cells might be beneficial in an accessible and succinct way — far better than I possibly could. Read Stem Cells for Headache for the details.
Early stem cell research was done with cells from aborted fetuses, so it was highly controversial. Fortunately, stem cells can come from many different sources, including a patient’s own fat. Research into stem cells for a variety of conditions is exploding — I’m happy to see migraine and headache getting some attention.
Stem cells are definitely an interesting topic for research to explore, but this treatment is nowhere close to ready for widespread use. (I add that caveat because some companies who provide stem cell therapy do promote its use for migraine and headache.)
Neck pain Headaches every day