Exploring Cryotherapy as a Therapeutic Approach for Stress-Induced Tension Headaches in College Students

Tension-type headaches and stress are common problems for students. It is one of the most neglected headache types, with prevalence of ~ 15–20% in population-based studies. Alternative and complementary medicine such as cryotherapy is effective for relieving physical and psychological pain; using ice compresses by placing it at the back of the neck, leads to relief of tension and anxiety, and gives the feeling of relaxation and full of energy for doing daily life activities. The findings from this study provide the basis for the formulation of future research questions that can explore the effect of cryotherapy on the treatment of many psychological problems, specifically, researchers who consider the role of cryotherapy in the treatment of physical and psychological problems.

This study aimed to assess tension-type headache, its relation to stress, and how to relieve it by cryotherapy, among academic students.

This study was designed as a mixed-method study as it involved a sequential mixed-method approach, in which both quantitative data collection and analysis techniques were chronologically undertaken. 50 academic students from the Faculty of Nursing, Ain Shams University were recruited.

A structured interview sheet was used for the sociodemographic data and a pilot study was carried out before starting the data collection phase. It included ten students.

Results revealed that there is an association between stress and tension-type headache, as the level of stress increased, the occurrence of tension-type headache increased.

Academic students experience stress appearing as physical and psychological symptoms that affect their daily life activities. There is a significant relationship between the level of stress and TTH, with diurnal pattern, location, severity, and duration of TTH. After applying cryotherapy (ice compresses) to relieve TTH, students feel analgesia, relaxation, increased effort, and alertness, added to decreased mental tension and recurrence of headache to a minimum level.