Effectiveness of focused meditation for patients with chronic low back pain-A randomized controlled clinical trial.
Author: Michalsen A1, Kunz N2, Jeitler M2, Brunnhuber S3, Meier L2, Lüdtke R4, Büssing A5, Kessler C2
Affiliation:
1Institute of Social Medicine, Epidemiology and Health Economics, Charité-University Medical Center, Berlin, Germany; Immanuel Hospital Berlin, Department of Internal and Complementary Medicine, Berlin, Germany. Electronic address: a.michalsen@immanuel.de.
2Institute of Social Medicine, Epidemiology and Health Economics, Charité-University Medical Center, Berlin, Germany; Immanuel Hospital Berlin, Department of Internal and Complementary Medicine, Berlin, Germany.
3University Hospital Salzburg, Department for Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Austria.
4Karl- and Veronica Carstens Foundation, Essen, Germany.
5University Witten-Herdecke, Chair of Integrative Medicine, Witten, Germany.
Conference/Journal: Complement Ther Med.
Date published: 2016 Jun
Other:
Volume ID: 26 , Pages: 79-84 , Special Notes: doi: 10.1016/j.ctim.2016.03.010. Epub 2016 Mar 9. , Word Count: 248
OBJECTIVES: We aimed to evaluate the effectiveness of an 8-week meditation program (focused meditation) in patients with chronic low-back pain.
DESIGN: A randomized clinical trial was conducted on 68 patients (55 years;75% female) with chronic low-back pain who scored >40mm on a 100mm Visual-Analogue-Scale. Subjects were allocated to an 8-week meditation program (focused meditation) with weekly 75min classes or to a self-care exercise program with a wait-list offer for meditation. Both groups were instructed to practice at home. Outcomes were assessed baseline and after 4 and 8 weeks. The primary outcome measure was the change in mean back pain at rest after 8 weeks. Secondary outcomes included function, pain-related bothersomeness, perceived stress, quality-of-life (QOL), and psychological outcomes.
RESULTS: Twelve (meditation) and 4 (exercise) patients were lost to follow-up. The primary outcome, pain at rest after 8 weeks, was reduced from 59.3±13.9mm to 40.8±21.8mm with meditation vs. 52.9±11.8mm to 37.3±18.2mm with exercise (adjusted group difference: -1.4 (95%CI:11.6;8.8;p=n.s.) Perceived stress was significantly more reduced with meditation (p=0.011). No significant treatment effects were found for other secondary outcomes as pain-related bothersomeness, function, quality-of-life and psychological scores, although the meditation group consistently showed non-significant better improvements compared to the exercise group.
CONCLUSIONS: Focused meditation and self-care exercise lead to comparable, symptomatic improvements in patients with chronic low back pain. Future studies should include longer-term follow-ups and develop guided meditation programs to support compliance.
Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
KEYWORDS: Distress; Exercise; Low back pain; Meditation; Randomized trial
PMID: 27261986 [PubMed - as supplied by publisher]
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