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My friend Jack suffers from the most terrible migraines. But he has an unusual solution. When his migraine starts, he lays down and gently straps a vibrator to the top of his forehead. He swears that it offers instant relief from the pain.
Though unconventional, Jack’s idea has historic roots. In 1892, neurologist Jean-Martin Charcot observed that Parkinson’s patients showed improvements in their tremors after prolonged carriage rides. He attributed this to rhythmic vibrations and fashioned a “fauteuil trepidant”—a shaking chair, which replicated the movement. His student, Georges Gilles de la Tourette, later extended the technique to treat migraines using a vibrating helmet. Both therapies provided “a powerful sedative for the nervous system,” wrote Charcot.
Though these early inventions fell out of favor, recent studies are revisiting the potential of vibration therapy for treating migraines, and are starting to reveal why vibration might be the breakthrough migraine sufferers have been seeking. “Some of the people using vibration as a therapy for migraine are experiencing huge benefits, it’s very exciting to see,” says Tie-Quang Li at the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm, Sweden, who has investigated the effects of vibration on migraines.
Despite migraines affecting an estimated 1 billion people worldwide, we know very little about how they are caused or how to treat them. Migraines usually begin with an aura—visual disturbances such as flashing lights or shimmering spots—followed by pain, blurred vision, nausea, and sensitivity to light.
While the exact causes of migraine remain unclear, focus has shifted from early theories that blamed dilated blood vessels to the role of the hypothalamus, a brain structure that is involved with pain messages, and inflammation of the meninges, the three layers of tissue that protect the brain and spinal cord. Current migraine drugs constrict blood vessels or block receptors in the pain network, but they don’t work for everyone and can cause side effects.
This has led many to explore alternative remedies, such as vibration therapy. Online forums are full of similar anecdotes to Jack’s. “I massaged my neck with a vibrator, and it completely removed the migraine pain I had been suffering with for years,” wrote one Reddit user.
While some research posits that vibration simply distracts from the pain, recent evidence suggests more is going on. In the first trial of its kind, Jan-Erik Juto and Rolf Hallin at the Karolinska Institute inserted a catheter with a vibrating balloon into the nostril of migraine sufferers at the start of an attack. The volunteers recorded their migraine pain before, during, and after the 15-minute treatment.
The small pilot study showed promise: 17 out of 18 people reported at least 50 percent pain relief, compared with three of 17 people who received a placebo treatment. Moreover, half of the people who received the treatment were completely pain-free 15 minutes after it finished, compared with only two in the placebo group.
In the paper, Juto and Hallin speculate that nasal vibration targets a collection of nerve cells called the sphenopalatine ganglion, or SPG. Located just under the nasal membrane, the SPG is connected to the hypothalamus. During a migraine attack, the hypothalamus is thought to lose control over a collection of structures in the brain called the limbic system, which affects how a person responds to pain. By stimulating the SPG and indirectly the hypothalamus, vibration may help restore control.
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Further research by Juto and his colleagues supports this idea. While scanning people’s brains during the treatment, they showed that nasal vibration modulates activity in the limbic system. Tie-Quang Li, who was involved in the work, says they also found that vibration interferes with trigeminal nerve activity. This nerve sends messages between the face and brain and is thought to release chemicals that affect the meninges and promote migraines. Interfering with the nerve’s activity may have helped reduce meninges inflammation and pain, says Li. Swedish medtech company Chordate Medical is now developing a device based on this work.
Meanwhile, some research suggests the DIY approach may also bring benefits. Adriana LaGier at Grand View University in Iowa became interested in the vibrator-on-the-head technique after hearing friends say it stopped their migraine pain. “I wanted to figure out what was going on,” she says.
LaGier’s team examined how a human cell reacts to being shaken by vibrating epithelial cells, the most common type of human cells, which are found throughout the body and brain. Just 15 minutes of vibration caused the cells to shrink and retract their microvilli—finger-like strands that normally project from the surface of the cell. They returned to normal shape after the vibrations stopped.
“Think of migraine as an architectural problem,” says LaGier. The brain is inflamed, with thousands of cells rushing into the meninges, which expands and triggers nerves to shoot off pain signals. She suggests that as vibration makes cells smaller, they take up less space and reduce pressure on the meninges, thus no longer triggering a painful response.
This week, results from a survey by the UK’s Migraine Trust showed just how important it is to increase our understanding of migraines: 89 percent of people with the condition said their mental health has been affected as a result, and 34 percent said they have thoughts of suicide due to migraines. “Migraine symptoms can be debilitating,” says Kate Sanger, head of policy at the trust. “There isn’t currently substantial evidence around vibrations in easing pain during an attack, however we know many people find their own self-care treatments to supplement prescribed medication.”
Although larger trials are needed, LaGier is confident that vibration could be a valuable, noninvasive option for migraine relief. “People with migraines aren’t always looking for a cure—they just want a better quality of life,” she says. If vibration offers a simple, at-home way to manage symptoms, it may be well worth giving it a fair shake.
If you or someone you know needs help, call 988 for free, 24-hour support from the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline. You can also text HOME to 741-741 for the Crisis Text Line. Outside the US, visit the International Association for Suicide Prevention for crisis centers around the world.
