Meditation as a Useful Chance for Chronic Pain Decrease
May 31, 2016 S. Coaccioli, G. Varrassi, R. Giorno et al.
In a cohort of 60 subjects from Thailand living in Italy who follow only complementary medicine, those with chronic knee and low back pain due to osteoarthritis were divided into experts (>10 years of meditation) and lower experts (<3 years). Among 28 subjects reporting chronic pain, the mean baseline pain score was 5.1 on a visual analogue scale. After five consecutive days of meditation, experts showed a significant pain reduction to 3.0, while lower experts did not show a significant decrease. The authors conclude that meditation should be recommended as a nonpharmacological approach for chronic pain.