Applying cold to the head when it hurts is nothing new. The practice has been documented for more than 150 years: a clinical work by James Arnott, published in London in 1849, already described treating headaches through the local application of cold.
But what does modern research say? We looked at the available studies. Here is what they show — and above all, what they do not.
What the research says
The 2013 randomised trial: targeted neck cooling
This is the most robust study in the field. Published in 2013 in the Hawai'i Journal of Medicine & Public Health, it was conducted by a team from the John A. Burns School of Medicine.
Protocol: 55 participants with migraine, randomised controlled crossover trial. Each participant served as their own control, testing a neck wrap containing two freezable packs, once frozen and once at room temperature, at the onset of an attack. Pain was measured on a visual analogue scale at fixed intervals.
Result: maximum pain reduction was observed at 30 minutes. The treatment arm recorded a 31.8% decrease in pain, while the control arm recorded, over the same interval, a 31.5% increase. The difference is statistically significant (P<0.001).
The authors' hypothesis is interesting: rather than targeting the head, where cold must penetrate the skull, they targeted the carotid arteries at the neck, where large vessels run close to the skin surface. The reasoning is borrowed from marathon runners, who apply ice to the armpits and groin after a race.
The 2006 pilot study: a chilled gel cap
A Turkish open-label study, with no control group, tested a gel cap covering the whole head on 28 migraine patients, worn for 25 minutes during two separate attacks. Pain scores fell noticeably after the session. Two participants had to stop because of cold intolerance and vertigo.
Major limitation: the absence of a control group. Without comparison, it is impossible to separate the effect of cold from the natural course of the attack or a placebo effect. The authors themselves describe the results as preliminary.
The Diamond Headache Clinic study
Conducted in Chicago, it followed 90 outpatients divided by headache type (migraine, cluster, mixed). Each treated two attacks with their usual medication alone, then two attacks with the same medication plus a reusable chilled gel pack. Cold was studied here as an adjunctive treatment, not an alternative.
What these studies do not say
We want to be precise, because this subject lends itself easily to shortcuts.
- None of these studies concerns ThéraMask™. The 2013 trial used a neck wrap targeting the carotid arteries. The 2006 study used a cap covering the whole head. Our mask is a forehead and eye band: a different format, in a different area.
- The samples are small. 55 and 28 participants. In clinical research these are modest numbers that call for larger-scale work.
- Cold does not suit everyone. The 2006 study reports cases of cold intolerance and vertigo that led participants to stop.
- No study presents cold as a substitute for medical treatment. In the Chicago study it is explicitly assessed alongside a medication.
What about heat?
Cold and heat do not answer the same need. In everyday practice, cold tends to be associated with throbbing sensations and eye strain, heat with muscular tension across the forehead, temples and neck.
What works for one person will not necessarily work for another. That is precisely why our mask can be used both ways: it lets you try.
Our position
ThéraMask™ is a comfort and relaxation accessory. It is not a medical device, and we claim no clinical efficacy.
We publish this article because this research exists and is interesting, not to let you believe it validates our product. It does not. It documents a long-standing practice, in formats different from ours.
If you suffer from recurring migraines or persistent pain, the right course remains to speak to a healthcare professional. A gel mask replaces neither a diagnosis nor a treatment.
Sources
- Sprouse-Blum AS, Gabriel AK, Brown JP, Yee MH. Randomized controlled trial: targeted neck cooling in the treatment of the migraine patient. Hawai'i Journal of Medicine & Public Health, 2013. PubMed 23901394
- Ucler S, Coskun O, Inan LE, Kanatli Y. Cold therapy in migraine patients: open-label, non-controlled, pilot study. 2006.
- Arnott J. Practical Illustrations of the Treatment of the Principal Varieties of Headache by the Local Application of Benumbing Cold. London, Churchill, 1849.