Does Mindfulness-based meditation improve the psychosocial well-being among patients with chronic pain conditions? A pilot study from Chennai

Background: Mindfulness-based meditation has been shown to reduce stress and even reduce pain in chronic pain conditions.

Objective: To study the effect of mindfulness-based meditation on pain and psychosocial wellbeing among patients living with chronic musculoskeletal pain conditions.

Methods: We conducted a quasi-experimental pre-post comparison study among 15 patients suffering from various musculoskeletal chronic pain conditions to assess the impact of mindfulness-based meditation on chronic pain. The participants were given an audio recording which gives specific instructions about the method of practicing the mindfulness-based meditation for a period of 2 weeks. The Brief Pain Inventory was used to measure pain and associated psycho-social wellbeing at baseline and after two weeks of the practice of meditation. The scores on the inventory were compared before and after the meditation using the paired sample t test.

Results: There was a statistically significant reduction in the overall Brief Pain Inventory score of 11.6 units (95% CI= 8.2 to 15.0; P < 0.05). The reduction in score was not significant in the pain subscale but was significant in the psycho-social wellbeing subscale.

Conclusions: Mindfulness-based meditation can be a useful adjuvant to pain management protocols in patients living with chronic musculoskeletal pain conditions.