Mindfulness meditation-based pain relief: a mechanistic account.
Study Goal
The researchers aimed to review recent studies on mindfulness meditation's effectiveness in attenuating pain through multiple mechanisms, particularly for chronic pain patients seeking nonpharmacological therapy.
Results Summary
Mindfulness meditation significantly reduces pain in experimental and clinical settings, acting through multiple unique mechanisms, offering a promising narcotic-free, self-facilitated pain therapy option.
Population
Chronic pain patients
Effective Dosage
Not specified
Duration
Not specified
Interactions
None mentioned
| Intervention | Direction | Endpoint | Population | Dosage | Impact | Claim # |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
mindfulness meditation | decrease | pain | experimental and clinical settings | - | significantly reduce | #1 |
mindfulness meditation | decrease | pain | chronic pain patients | - | significantly attenuates | #2 |
Pain is a multidimensional experience that involves interacting sensory, cognitive, and affective factors, rendering the treatment of chronic pain challenging and financially burdensome. Further, the widespread use of opioids to treat chronic pain has led to an opioid epidemic characterized by exponential growth in opioid misuse and addiction. The staggering statistics related to opioid use highlight the importance of developing, testing, and validating fast-acting nonpharmacological approaches to treat pain. Mindfulness meditation is a technique that has been found to significantly reduce pain in experimental and clinical settings. The present review delineates findings from recent studies demonstrating that mindfulness meditation significantly attenuates pain through multiple, unique mechanisms-an important consideration for the millions of chronic pain patients seeking narcotic-free, self-facilitated pain therapy.