Easing Back Pain without Drugs
Meditation can ease lower back pain and improve function, according to new study.
Video Transcript:
Meditation may not only ease your mind, it may also ease chronic back pain, according to new research.
The team found practicing mindful meditation can lead to improvements in lower back function and help reduce discomfort. Researchers recruited 342 patients… 20 to 70 years old who had lower back pain for at least 3 months. They were randomly assigned to receive training in mindfulness-based stress reduction, cognitive behavioral therapy or usual care. “Cognitive behavioral therapy and mindfulness based stress reduction led to an increased likelihood of having clinically meaningful improvement in back pain than those who were only receiving usual care.”. The study concludes quieting the mind may be a useful non-drug alternative for treatment of low back pain, which affects 8 out of 10 people at some point in their lives.
The lead researcher says, “We are not saying ‘It’s all in your mind. Rather, as recent brain research has shown, the mind and the body are intimately intertwined, including in how they sense and respond to pain."
I’m Dr. Cindy Haines of HealthDay TV… with the information you need to protect your health.
