Loving-kindness meditation for chronic low back pain: results from a pilot trial.
Journal of holistic nursing : official journal of the American Holistic Nurses' Association September 1, 2005 James W Carson, Francis J Keefe, Thomas R Lynch et al.
An 8-week loving-kindness meditation program reduced pain, anger, and psychological distress in patients with chronic low back pain. In a pilot study, 43 participants were randomly assigned to the meditation program or standard care. Those in the loving-kindness group showed significant improvements in pain and psychological distress at post-treatment and follow-up, while the usual care group showed no changes. Daily data indicated that more practice on a given day was linked to lower pain that day and lower anger the next day. The results suggest the program can be beneficial for managing persistent low back pain.