Effects of Valeriana officinalis (Valerian) on tension-type headache: A randomized, placebo-controlled, double-blind clinical trial

Objective: Tension-type headache is the most frequent type of headache. Considering the effectiveness of Valeriana officinalis (Valerian) in treatment of some types of headache, the effect of valerian root was studied in patients with tension-type headache.

Materials and methods: The current study is a double-blind randomized clinical trial that was conducted in Shams Hospital of Mashhad University of Medical Sciences, Mashhad, Iran, from January to June 2018. We included 88 participants with tension-type headache and randomly assigned them to intervention and control group by block randomization in a 1:1 ratio. The intervention group received Sedamin® capsule (530 mg of valerian root extraction) while the placebo group received 500 mg of breadcrumbs both given as two capsules daily for a month -after dinner. The headache impact on activity of daily livings performance, headache disability, and headache severity were measured using questionnaires in baseline and one month after intervention in both groups.

Results: The average age (±SD) of the participants was 34.9 (±8.7) years old. After one month, the impact of headache on daily livings performance, significantly reduced in intervention group (mean=51.2) versus the placebo (mean=57.0), (p<0.001). There was a significant reduction in disability in intervention group (mean=22.9) compared to the placebo (mean=27.4) (p<0.001) and the severity score showed significant reductions in intervention group (mean=3.5) versus the placebo group (mean=5.1) (p<0.001).

Conclusion: The present trial showed that valerian capsule could reduce the headache impact on daily livings performance, disability and severity of tension-type headache.

Keywords: Clinical trial; Persian medicine; Tension-type headache; Valeriana officinalis.