Author: Kozasa EH, Tanaka LH, Monson C, Little S, Leao FC, Peres MP.
Affiliation: Instituto do Cérebro, Inst. Israelita de Ensino e Pesquisa Albert Einstein, Av. Albert Einstein, 627/701, CEP 05601-901, São Paulo, SP, Brazil, ehkozasa@gmail.com.
Conference/Journal: Curr Pain Headache Rep.
Date published: 2012 Jun 21
Other:
Word Count: 143
Meditation is the third most commonly requested complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) therapy reported in a US survey. Those who suffer from chronic pain are those who most frequently use CAM therapies. This review aims to evaluate whether meditation-based interventions can help the treatment of fibromyalgia. A PubMed search was conducted using the terms "fibromyalgia" and "meditation", or "mindfulness", or "mantra" or "relaxation response". We selected articles which clearly described a meditation intervention being used in the treatment of fibromyalgia. Only four articles were classified with score 3 in the Jadad scale. Another seven articles were included in this review. Most of the results indicate improvement in fibromyalgia-related symptoms in patients who participated in a meditation-based intervention. Considering only 4 of the 13 studies achieved a score of 3 on the Jadad scale, researchers of meditation interventions should discuss the best methodologic control for these studies.
PMID: 22717699