Headache Hero is for pediatric Health Care Practitioners who are looking for a complementary treatment option for their patients who suffer from pediatric chronic headache that appears to be safe and effective based on clinical trials to date. As a Primary Care Provider, you and your staff are under tremendous time and resource constraints that do not allow you to easily invest time or resources into training children on the ways to manage their headaches. Headache Hero allows you to provide access to a non-invasive, non-pharmaceutical solution to your patients suffering from migraine or tension-type headaches, after your medical investigation has determined that serious disorders are not causing the headache. Your patients will be taught, via the Internet, proven relaxation and self-regulation techniques for pain control to manage their headaches.

Since the product is delivered via the internet, patients can take the lessons at a time that is convenient for them and their families. The biggest benefit of the Headache Hero program is that when combined with standard medical care it was found to be 2.65 times more efficacious than standard medical care alone in reducing the frequency, duration and intensity of a child’s headaches.

Headache Hero is a self administered, Internet-based, behavioral modification program that has been targeted for children between the ages of 7 to 12 years old. The program requires approximately 10 minutes per day over a four week period to complete. Headache Hero is a complementary treatment approach that works with your patients current medical treatment to teach them methods they can use to control their headache triggers and manage their headache pain through proven behavior modification techniques that are all natural with no risk of side effects.

As an Internet-based application, Headache Hero can be delivered for a fraction of the cost of similar therapist-led training, which can require the patient to attend eight or more sessions in the therapist’s office at $200 per session. Therapy may not be feasible to a patient’s family because of financial considerations as well as their proximity to available specialists.

The Headache Hero system was developed by Pediatric Psychologists at The University of Kansas Medical Center (KUMC) and Children’s Mercy Hospital and Clinics with industry-recognized expertise in pediatric behavior. The initial program and a soon to be completed 1-year follow-up study were funded by grants from AstraZeneca and the National Institutes of Health (NIH) , respectively.