Case Report: Zen meditation-integrated CBT normalized the impaired brain function of a chronic low back pain patient—from the findings of brain blood flow SPECT imaging
F1000Research November 25, 2022 DOI: 10.12688/f1000research.126031.1 (opens in new tab) via Semantic Scholar
Summary
AI-generated from the abstractA 45-year-old man with chronic low back pain after a vehicular accident, who had insufficient improvement from drug treatment, underwent a 3-month outpatient program combining mindfulness meditation (Zen breath counting and mantra), cognitive behavioral therapy, and multidisciplinary interventions. After treatment, the patient reported a decrease in subjective pain. Brain SPECT imaging showed improved excess blood flow from the right temporoparietal junction to the inferior parietal lobe. The authors suggest that Zen meditation is an effective intervention for chronic pain and that SPECT can measure its effectiveness.
Study at a glance
| Characteristics | Case study Case report Peer reviewed |
|---|---|
| Sample size | 1 |
| Population | Chronic low back pain patient |
| Interventions | cognitive behavioral therapy physician visits multidisciplinary medical and meditation education physiotherapy occupational therapy psychiatric occupational therapy nutritional interventions |
| Duration | 3-month outpatient program |
| Keywords | Medicine Psychology |
| Key finding | A chronic low back pain patient reported decreased subjective pain and showed improved brain SPECT blood flow after a 3-month mindfulness meditation-integrated cognitive behavioral therapy program. |
Abstract
Background: Mindfulness meditation for chronic pain is popular globally, but evidence of its efficacy is limited. Moreover, there are no established methods on the objective evaluation of the effectiveness of interventions for chronic pain. In this study, a chronic low back pain patient was treated with traditional Japanese Buddhism meditation-integrated cognitive behavioral therapy and the pre- and post-intervention brain single-photon emission computed tomography (SPECT) images were compared. Case: A 45-year-old man was experiencing continuous back pain after a vehicular accident and experienced insufficient improvement after drug treatment. The patient underwent a 3-month outpatient mindfulness meditation-integrated cognitive behavioral therapy program executed by a multidisciplinary team: physician visits (once a week for 30 min), multidisciplinary medical and meditation education (Zen breath counting meditation and mantra), physiotherapy interventions (twice weekly), occupational therapy interventions (twice weekly), psychiatric occupational therapy interventions (twice weekly), and nutritional interventions (twice weekly). After treatment, the patient reported a decrease in subjective pain overall, based on whether or not a pain attack occurred. Brain SPECT imaging revealed an improvement in excess blood flow from the right temporoparietal junction to the inferior parietal lobe. Conclusions: These findings indicate that Zen meditation is an effective intervention method for chronic pain and SPECT is a useful tool for measuring its effectiveness.