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Researchers Hiint for New
Tension Headache Treatment
A FIRST FOR DURHAM—Clarence Dupre Jones IV. at right, yawning, wanted to get
an early start on things with the new year so he decided to be the first child born in
Durham in 1975. He chose Duke Hospital as the first sight he would see on his
itinerary through life and 8:51 a.m. as the right time to begin work. Present for his
arrival was his mother. Mrs. Charlotte Jones, a doctoral student in English
education here at the university, who met Clarence s father, now a consultant for a
computer service, while serving with the Peace Corps m Thailand. (Photo by David
Williamson)
By David Williamson
How does America handle a
headache?
In most Instances, the answer to that
question is with aspirin. ' Citizens of
this pill-popping nation of ours gulp
down a total of more than 17 billion
tablets of crystallized acetysalicylic acid
annually.
That means an average of 529 aspirin
get swallowed every second of the year,
and each American, again on the
average, consumes 77 aspirin in 12
months.
Two researchers at the medical
center are beginning a study of
alternative forms of treatment for
headaches brought on by tension, and
they are seeking volunteers who suffer
from tension headaches to help them in
their efforts.
Guillermo Bernal, a clinical fellow in
the Department of Psychology, and Dr.
Bedford Williams, assistant professor of
medicine and psychiatry, plan to
examine the symptom-relieving effects
of hypnosis, relaxation and biofeedback
techniques.
They are currently seeking subjects
who experience frequent tension
headaches and who are free from other
medical and psychological problems.
The study will require an hour a day for
five days.
The biofeedback techniques to be
used involve electromyographic
monitoring of muscle activity, as Bernal
said, "to see what the body s doing at
any given moment. By providing
second to second information
regarding muscle activity, the two
researchers hope the volunteers will be
able to learn to relieve muscle tension
when It occurs.
Bernal, who will be using the results
of the investigation in his doctoral
dissertation in clinical psychology at
the University of South Carolina,
explained that tension headaches are
caused by involuntary tightening of
surface muscles on the forehead,
across the scalp and along the neck.
The 'tightening' is typically worse
toward the end of the day and results
from job pressures, anxiety, difficulties
in tlie home or from any of a number of
different factors.
All of the subjects will be tested for
hypnotic susceptibility. Those who will
be a part of the hypnosis group will be
taught to place themselves into a deeply
relaxed state by means of suggestion.
Volunteers in the biofeedback group
will be able to watch their own muscles
contract or relax by following the lateral
movement of a spot of light on a
television screen. Participants in the
relaxation group will be Instructed to
relax their muscles in a quiet room.
“Our goal is to find out what kinds of
motor and psychological skills are
involved in reducing tension in these
three approaches and also to compare
them in terms of how well headaches
are relieved or prevented. Bernal said.
Williams, who recently was awarded a
$170,000 Research Scientist
Development Award from the National
Institute of Mental Health, will oversee
the study.
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VOLUME22, NUMBERS
. JANUARY 17,1975
DURHAM, NORTH CAROLINA
Medical Giants Lend Names to Duke Wards
For the benefit of employees, staff
and students who have come to the
medical center within the last 10 years.
INTERCOM will periodically offer brief
biographies of the medical men after
whom the hospital s wards were named.
The following article, the first in the new
series. Is being reprinted from the
February. 1966 issue of INTERCOM.
The wards of Duke Hospital were
named for eminent physicians and
surgeons in order to remind the staff
and students of what has been
accomplished in medicine, as well as to
follow Mr. James B. Duke s Indenture:
"I advise courses In history, especially
the lives of the great of the earth.
Suggestions and nominations for
names were obtained from all over the
country. The recommendation was
made and adopted that those
Individuals for whom the Duke wards
were named should be predominately
of the South, so that the ones chosen
should constitute a Southern Medical
Hall of Fame.
SIR WILLIAM OSLER
(Osier is a medical
ward on second floor)
A native Canadian. William Osier was
born July 12. 1849 in Bond Head.
Ontario. He attended Trinity College m
Toronto and McGill University Medical
School In Montreal.
Following graduation from McGill
Medical School. Dr, Osier travelled
abroad for further study. He returned to
Montreal In 1874 as an Instructor in the
Institutes of Medicine at McGill.
In 1884 Dr. Osier was offered a
professorship in Philadelphia. A man
noted tor his good sense of humor. It is
told that he said: "I finally decided to
leave the matter to chance and flipped a
four mark silver piece into the air.
Heads. I go to Philadelphia, tails. I
remain in Montreal. It fell heads.'
After five years In Philadelphia. Dr.
Osier accepted an invitation to head the
new medical service at Johns Hopkins
Hospital. It was during this time that he
published his Principles and Practice of
Medicine, which became a popular text
for students and practitioners.
During his Johns Hopkins period he
was an active Investigator of typhoid
fever, malaria, pneumonia, amoebiasis.
tuberculosis, and cardiovascular
disease.
In 1905. after fifteen years at Johns
Hopkins. Dr. Osier accepted the Regius
Professorship In Medicine of Oxford, a
position which he held until his death In
1919.
(Continued on page 4)
SIR WILLIAM OSLER