Those suffering from migraine are frequently recommended to regularly participate in aerobic exercise as part of a preventative treatment program.
There are a number of studies and reviews that report benefits of aerobic exercise in the management of migraines. Benefits attributed to regular exercise are decreased migraines days per month, decreased pain intensity, and decreased duration of attacks!
Overall, consistent aerobic exercise can decrease migraine from .6 to 3.7 days per month. Reductions in pain intensity have been estimated to be 20-54%. Duration of attacks has shown decreases of 20-27% in participants.
General guidelines for aerobic exercise are:
Type: running, walking, cycling, cross-training
Duration: 20 - 60 minutes
Frequency: 3-5x/week
intensity: 55-90% of max HR
Length: minimum of 10 weeks to benefits.
However, many struggle to exercise regularly due to fear of triggering a migraine!
Are you struggling to get into an exercise program because of fear of triggering attacks?
Comment below or sign up for a free headache consult to learn more on how to get started exercising with migraine?
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