Meditation and other Mind-body therapies (MBT) like hypnosis, relaxation, guided imagery, therapeutic suggestion, and cognitive behavioral therapy can reduce pain and thereby reducing the opioid dosage finds a recent study.
A recent study published on JAMA Internal Medicine revealed that mind-body therapies were associated with improved pain and reduced opioid dose.
The study believed to be the first systematic evaluation of the therapeutic benefits of MBTs for opioid treated clinical pain and it included more than 6000 patients.
How the research was conducted? what made scientists conclude this?
Ley’s try to find out in this article.
Research methodology
Researchers were curious that, Are mind-body therapies (ie, meditation, hypnosis, relaxation, guided imagery, therapeutic suggestion, and cognitive behavioral therapy) associated with pain reduction and opioid-related outcome improvement among adults using opioids for pain?
To study this, scientists reviewed and analyzed the data of clinical trials and systematic reviews of studies from MEDLINE, Embase, CINAHL, Emcare, PsychINFO, and Cochrane Library from the date of inception to March 2018.
Finally, they shortlisted sixty studies with a total of 6404 participants for review. From the data, they were looking for two types of outcome:
Primary outcome: The primary outcome was pain severity or intensity.
Secondary outcomes: Secondary outcomes were opioid use measured by the prescription record, self-report, or urine toxicologic screening; opioid misuse and craving; and disability or functional impairment.
All collected data were analyzed and reviewed for the outcome and a final result was extracted.
Also read: Muscle relaxant can risk severe confusion in seniors
Result
60 reports with 6404 participants were included in the meta-analysis. Overall, MBTs were associated with pain reduction and reduced opioid dose.
Studies tested:
- Meditation,
- Hypnosis,
- Relaxation,
- Guided imagery,
- Therapeutic suggestion, and
- Cognitive behavioral therapy (n = 7) interventions.
Moderate to large effect size improvements in pain outcomes were found for meditation, hypnosis, suggestion, and cognitive behavioral therapy but not for other MBTs.
Although most meditation, cognitive-behavioral therapy, and hypnosis studies found improved opioid-related outcomes, fewer studies of suggestion, guided imagery, and relaxation reported such improvements.
Most MBT studies used active or placebo controls and were judged to be at low risk of bias.
What it means for us
It’s clear that MBTs are associated with moderate improvements in pain and small reductions in opioid dose. So, we should make meditation and other relevant MBTs a part of our lifestyle for a better quality of life.
Resources:
Garland EL, Brintz CE, Hanley AW, et al. Mind-Body Therapies for Opioid-Treated Pain: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis. JAMA Intern Med. Published online November 04, 2019. doi:https://doi.org/10.1001/jamainternmed.2019.4917
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Dr Sunit Sanjay Ekka is a physiotherapist in practice for the last 15 years. He has done his BPT from one of the premium Central Government physiotherapy colleges, ie, SVNIRTAR. The patient is his best teacher and whatever he gets to learn he loves to share it on his Youtube channel and blog.
