Pilates can cause debilitating headaches?

Pilates enthusiasts turn to the 80-year-old exercise technique to help strengthen their core, improve flexibility, and increase joint mobility. A report published in the Journal of Medical Case Reports highlights the case of a 42-year-old woman from the UK who started suffering from persistent and debilitating headaches due to her Pilates classes.

Doctors at King’s College Hospital in London were presented with a woman who had been suffering from a headache that gradually worsened over the course of four weeks after she attended a Pilates “reformer” class. The woman reported feeling a sudden “pop” in her neck while performing a certain exercise and experiencing her initial headache an hour after the class ended. Although she was able to relieve her initial headache by lying down, it got progressively worse throughout the next couple of days.

When the woman finally made an appointment with her physician, she was diagnosed with a neck muscle injury and prescribed painkillers and a muscle relaxant. Even after physiotherapy sessions, which included intensive neck manipulation, the woman continued to suffer from a headache that was only worsening over time. The woman arrived at King’s College Hospital four weeks after the initial event.

A computed tomography (CT) scan found blood pooling in two spots outside of her brain and a follow-up magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scan revealed pockets of fluid outside the spine. Using the results of both scans, doctors concluded that a tear in the lining of her neck’s spinal cord was causing fluid to leak out. Doctors were unable to identify the origin of the leak; however, the woman recovered after bed rest and taking nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory medication.

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