Pain Management

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Head Pain Services

The head pain clinic is a cooperative effort between the University of Mississippi Medical Center's psychiatry and neurology departments as well as the patient's own physician. Conducted in UMMC's Clinical Sciences building, the program is known nationally as a center for headache research and training and regionally as a first-rate specialty center for clinical and consultation services.

The program, which opened in 1986, specializes in combinations of behavioral and pharmacological interventions to treat recurrent headache (principally migraine and tension-type). Treatments developed at UMMC are employed at many headache specialty treatment centers nationwide, and our staff often are called to lecture and consult on related issues.

Our clinic's staff includes physicians and residents from UMMC's psychiatry and neurology department. The director is a headache specialist who has dedicated his professional career to understanding and treating headache.

Services we offer

  • Biofeedback counseling and training
  • Cognitive behavioral therapy
  • Comprehensive evaluation
  • Home-based treatment
  • Non-pharmacologic therapies
  • Pharmacological therapy
  • Relaxation training
  • Stress management training

Biofeedback treatment for headache

Since it was first developed in the early 1970s, biofeedback training has been one of the principal non-drug methods for managing headaches. Applications of biofeedback for head pain management are based upon a simple concept: With training, headache sufferers can learn how to voluntarily control headache-related physical functions. This improved physical self-regulation may, in turn, help prevent or minimize their headaches.