Treatments

Back Clinic Treatments. There are various treatments for all types of injuries and conditions here at Injury Medical & Chiropractic Clinic. The main goal is to correct any misalignments in the spine through manual manipulation and placing misaligned vertebrae back in their proper place. Patients will be given a series of treatments, which are based on the diagnosis. This can include spinal manipulation, as well as other supportive treatments. And as chiropractic treatment has developed, so have its methods and techniques.

Why do chiropractors use one method/technique over another?

A common method of spinal adjustment is the toggle drop method. With this method, a chiropractor crosses their hands and pressed down firmly on an area of the spine. They will then adjust the area with a quick and precise thrust. This method has been used for years and is often used to help increase a patient’s mobility.

Another popular method takes place on a special drop table. The table has different sections, which can be moved up or down based on the body’s position. Patients lie face down on their back or side while the chiropractor applies quick thrusts throughout the spinal area as the table section drops. Many prefer this table adjustment, as this method is lighter and does not include twisting motions used in other methods.

Chiropractors also use specialized tools to assist in their adjustments, i.e., the activator. A chiropractor uses this spring-loaded tool to perform the adjustment/s instead of their hands. Many consider the activator method to be the most gentle of all.

Whichever adjustment method a chiropractor uses, they all offer great benefits to the spine and overall health and wellness. If there is a certain method that is preferred, talk to a chiropractor about it. If they do not perform a certain technique, they may recommend a colleague that does.

Mindfulness Interventions for Auto Accident Injuries in El Paso, TX

by spinedoctors | Back Pain, Chiropractic, Neck Pain, Physical Rehabilitation, Randomized Controlled Trial, Stress, Treatments

When you’ve been involved in a car crash, the auto accident injuries resulting from the incident may not always have a physical cause. The emotional distress due to trauma or injury from the impact of an automobile accident may often be so immense, it can lead to a variety of painful symptoms. If such stress is not treated immediately, it could result in the development of psychological conditions. Stress, anxiety, depression and in severe cases, PTSD, or post traumatic stress disorder, are some of the most common psychological issues you may end up encountering after a traumatic auto accident.

Anxiety and Irrational Fears

In several cases, the victim of an automobile accident may develop irrational fears as a result of the incident. As a matter of fact, many of these individuals report experiencing anxiety about getting behind the wheel again. For them, the fear of being in another accident may ultimately cause them to avoid driving altogether. For many other individuals still, the irrational fear of suffering a panic attack while on the road may be the cause for them to avert driving entirely. If the anxiety and irrational fears caused by the emotional distress of an auto accident worsen, it may permanently�discourage a person from driving again.

Depression

It is also possible for people who’ve been involved in an auto accident to develop depression following the incident. In the end, you wind up experiencing psychological trauma as a result of physical trauma. There are numerous symptoms of depression which you might readily recognize. These include problems with sleep, losing your appetite, and headaches. As it becomes worse, however, you might end up feeling sad or hopeless all of the time, which could lead to worsening symptoms.

Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)

It’s highly possible for individuals involved in an automobile accident to suffer from post traumatic stress disorder, or PTSD. According to the National Center For PTSD, as much as 9 percent of people who experience auto accident injuries end up suffering from PTSD. Moreover, at least 14 percent of car crash survivors who seek mental health care are experiencing PTSD.

A new research study demonstrated that mindfulness interventions might be just as essential to your health as traditional treatment, especially if you’ve got post traumatic stress disorder, or PTSD. Researchers have demonstrated that chiropractic care can lead to a substantial advancement in the mind-body stress component of a patient’s overall health and wellness.

Chiropractic Care for Auto Accident Injuries

Addressing automobile accident injuries, such as whiplash, which also result in anxiety and irrational fears, depression and especially PTSD, demands a multi-disciplinary strategy. Chiropractic is an alternative treatment option which focuses on injuries and/or conditions of the musculoskeletal and nervous system. A chiropractor commonly utilizes spinal adjustments and manual manipulations to carefully correct spinal misalignments, or subluxations, which could be causing pain and discomfort. By releasing pressure and muscle tension, a doctor of chiropractic, or chiropractor, can help reduce stress and emotional distress which could be causing the individual’s anxiety, irrational fears, depression and PTSD. If further help is required, the chiropractor can recommend patients to the best healthcare specialist to help them with their symptoms. The purpose of the following article is to demonstrate the prevalence of PTSD on individuals involved in a traffic collision as well as to show how mindfulness interventions can ultimately help improve as well as manage the stress symptoms people may experience after a car crash.

Prediction of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder by Immediate Reactions to Trauma: a Prospective Study in Road Traffic Accident Victims

Name: El Paso Back Clinic | Spine Specialists - El Paso, TX
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Abstract

Road traffic accidents often cause serious physical and psychological sequelae. Specialists of various medical faculties are involved in the treatment of accident victims. Little is known about the factors which might predict psychiatric disorders, e.g. Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) after accidents and how psychological problems influence physical treatment. In a prospective study 179 unselected, consecutively admitted road traffic accident victims were assessed a few days after the accident for psychiatric diagnoses, severity of injury and psychopathology. All were inpatients and had to be treated for bone fractures. At 6-months follow-up assessment 152 (85%) of the patients were interviewed again. Of the patients, 18.4% fulfilled the criteria for Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (DSM-III-R) within 6 months after the accident. Patients who developed PTSD were injured more severely and showed more symptoms of anxiety, depression and PTSD a few days after the accident than patients with no psychiatric diagnosis. Patients with PTSD stayed significantly longer in the hospital than the other patients. Multiple regression analysis revealed that the length of hospitalization was due mainly to a diversity of factors such as severity of injury, severity of accident, premorbid personality and psychopathology. Posttraumatic stress disorder is common after road traffic accidents. Patients with PTSD at follow-up can be identified by findings from early assessment. Untreated psychological sequelae such as PTSD cause longer hospitalization and therefore more costs than in non-PTSD patients.

Trauma-Focused Cognitive Behavior Therapy and Exercise for Chronic Whiplash: Protocol of a Randomized Controlled Trial

Abstract

Introduction:�As a consequence of a road traffic crash, persistent pain and disability following whiplash injury are common and incur substantial personal and economic costs. Up to 50% of people who experience a whiplash injury will never fully recover and up to 30% will remain moderately to severely disabled by the condition. The reason as to why symptoms persist past the acute to sub-acute stage and become chronic is unclear, but likely results from complex interactions between structural injury, physical impairments, and psychological and psychosocial factors. Psychological responses related to the traumatic event itself are becoming an increasingly recognised factor in the whiplash condition. Despite this recognition, there is limited knowledge regarding the effectiveness of psychological interventions, either delivered alone or in combination with physiotherapy, in reducing the physical and pain-related psychological factors of chronic whiplash. Pilot study results have shown positive results for the use of trauma-focused cognitive behaviour therapy to treat psychological factors, pain and disability in individuals with chronic whiplash. The results have indicated that a combined approach could not only reduce psychological symptoms, but also pain and disability.
Aims:�The primary aim of this randomised, controlled trial is to investigate the effectiveness of combined trauma-focused cognitive behavioural therapy, delivered by a psychologist, and physiotherapy exercise to decrease pain and disability of individuals with chronic whiplash and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). The trial also aims to investigate the effectiveness of the combined therapy in decreasing post-traumatic stress symptoms, anxiety and depression.
Participants and Setting:�A total of 108 participants with chronic whiplash-associated disorder (WAD) grade II of > 3 months and < 5 years duration and PTSD (diagnosed with the Clinician Administered PTSD Scale (CAPS) according to the DSM-5) will be recruited for the study. Participants will be assessed via phone screening and in person at a university research laboratory. Interventions will take place in southeast Queensland, Australia and southern Denmark.
Intervention:�Psychological therapy will be delivered once a week over 10 weeks, with participants randomly assigned to either trauma-focused cognitive behavioural therapy or supportive therapy, both delivered by a clinical psychologist. Participants will then receive ten sessions of evidence-based physiotherapy exercise delivered over a 6-week period.
Outcome Measures:�The primary outcome measure is neck disability (Neck Disability Index). Secondary outcomes focus on: pain intensity; presence and severity of PTSD (CAPS V and PTSD Checklist 5); psychological distress (Depression, Anxiety Stress Scale 21); patient perceived functionality (SF-12, Tampa Scale of Kinesiophobia, and Patient-Specific Functional Scale); and pain-specific self-efficacy and catastrophising (Pain Self-Efficacy Questionnaire and Pain Catastrophizing Scale). After psychotherapy (10 weeks after randomisation) and physiotherapy (16 weeks after randomisation), as well as at the 6-month and 12-month follow-ups, a blind assessor will measure the outcomes.
Analysis:�All analyses will be conducted on an intention-to-treat basis. The primary and secondary outcomes that are measured will be analysed using linear mixed and logistic regression models. Any effect of site (Australia or Denmark) will be evaluated by including a site-by-treatment group-by-time interaction term in the mixed models analyses. Effect modification will only be assessed for the primary outcome of the Neck Disability Index.
Discussion:�This study will provide a definitive evaluation of the effects of adding trauma-focused cognitive behaviour therapy to physiotherapy exercise for individuals with chronic WAD and PTSD. This study is likely to influence the clinical management of whiplash injury and will have immediate clinical applicability in Australia, Denmark and the wider international community. The study will also have implications for both health and insurance policy makers in their decision-making regarding treatment options and funding.

Introduction

Persistent pain and disability following whiplash injury as a consequence of a road traffic crash (RTC) is common and incurs substantial personal and economic costs. Up to 50% of people who experience a whiplash injury will never fully recover and up to 30% will remain moderately to severely disabled by the condition [1-3]. Less recognised are the mental health issues that accompany this condition. The prevalence of psychiatric disorders has been shown to be 25% for PTSD, 31% for Major Depressive Episode and 20% for Generalised Anxiety Disorder [4-6]. Whiplash injury accounts for the vast majority of any submitted claims as well as the greatest incurred costs in Queensland compulsory third party scheme [7]. In Australia, Whiplash injuries comprise approximately 75% of all survivable RTC injuries [8] with total costs of more than $950 M per annum [9], exceeding costs for both spinal cord and traumatic brain injury [7]. In Denmark, whiplash costs an estimated 300 million USD per annum if loss of work is included [10].

Neck pain is the cardinal symptom of individuals following whiplash injury. It is now generally accepted that there is an initial peripheral injury of some kind to the neck [11] although the specific injured structure in individual patients is difficult to clinically identify with current imaging techniques. The reason as to why symptoms persist past the acute to sub-acute stage and become chronic is not clear but likely results from complex interactions between structural injury, physical impairments, psychological and psychosocial factors [12]. However it is clear that chronic WAD is a heterogeneous and complex condition involving physical impairments such as movement loss, disturbed movement patterns and sensory disturbances [13] as well as pain related psychological responses such as catastrophizing [14, 15], kinesiophobia [16], activity avoidance and poor self-efficacy for pain control [17]. In addition recent studies have shown that posttraumatic stress symptoms or event related distress is common [18-20]. Thus it would seem logical that interventions targeting both the physical and psychological manifestations of the whiplash condition would be of benefit.

In contrast to many common musculoskeletal pain conditions (e.g. low back pain, non-specific neck pain) whiplash related neck pain usually occurs following a traumatic event, namely a motor vehicle crash. Psychological responses related to the traumatic event itself, posttraumatic stress symptoms, are emerging as an important additional psychological factor in the whiplash condition. Recent data indicates that post-traumatic stress symptoms are prevalent in individuals who have sustained whiplash injuries following motor vehicle accidents [18, 20, 21]. The early presence of posttraumatic stress symptoms have been shown to be associated with poor functional recovery from the injury [13, 18]. Recent data from our laboratory have shown that following whiplash injury 17% of individuals will follow a trajectory of initial moderate/severe posttraumatic stress symptoms that persist for at least 12 months and 43% will follow a trajectory of moderate initial symptoms that decrease but remain at mild to moderate (sub-clinical) levels for at least 12 months (the duration of the study) [4]. See Figure 1. These figures are significant as they are similar to the prevalence of PTSD in individuals admitted to hospital following �more severe� motor vehicle injuries [22].

Figure 1 Data from Whiplash Injured Participants

Figure 1: Data from 155 whiplash injured participants measured at 1, 3, 6 & 12 months post-accident. The Posttraumatic Stress Diagnostic Scale (PDS) was measured at each time point. Group based trajectory modelling identified 3 distinct clinical pathways (trajectories). 1. Chronic moderate/severe (17%) 2. Recovering: initial moderate levels of posttraumatic stress decreasing to mild/ moderate levels. 3. Resilient: negligible symptoms throughout2. PDS symptom score Cut-offs: 1�10 mild, 11�20 moderate, 21�35.

Although chronic WAD is a considerable health problem the number of published randomized controlled trials (RCTs) is very limited [23]. A recent systematic review concluded that there is evidence to suggest that exercise programs are modestly effective in relieving whiplash-related pain, at least over the short term [23]. For example, Stewart et al [24] showed only a 2 point (on a 10 point scale) decrease in pain levels immediately after a 6 week functional exercise management intervention that adhered to pain-related CBT principals but with no significant sustained effects at more long term follow-ups of 6 and 12 months. In a preliminary RCT conducted in our laboratory (published in 2007), a more neck specific exercise approach also delivered only modest effects, in that pain and disability scores decreased by just clinically relevant amounts (8�14% on the Neck disability Index) when compared to a single advice session [25].

The systematic review also concluded that there is conflicting evidence regarding the effectiveness of psychological interventions either delivered alone or in combination with physiotherapy [23]. The studies included in the review were of variable quality and mostly utilized CBT in some format to address pain related cognitions and distress [26, 27]. No study specifically targeted PTSD symptoms.

Thus the seemingly logical proposal of interventions to target the physical and pain�related psychological factors of chronic WAD is not working as well as would be anticipated. This expectation is based on more favourable outcomes with such approaches for other musculoskeletal pain conditions such as low back [28].

In an endeavour to understand why exercise rehabilitation approaches are not very effective for chronic WAD, we undertook a NHMRC (570884) funded randomized controlled trial that included effect modifiers of PTSD symptoms and sensory disturbances. In this larger (n=186) multicentre trial, preliminary analysis indicate that only 30% of patients with chronic WAD and a PTSD diagnosis had a clinically relevant change in Neck Disability Index scores (>10% change) compared to 70% of WAD patients without PTSD following an exercise rehabilitation program. All included participants reported moderate or greater levels of pain and disability indicating that the co-morbid presence of PTSD prevents a good response to physical rehabilitation. We could find no modifying effect of any sensory changes. The results of this study lead us to propose that first treating PTSD and then instituting physical rehabilitation will be a more effective intervention to improve health outcomes for chronic WAD.

Trauma-focused CBT is a highly effective treatment for PTSD symptoms [29] and the Australian Guidelines for Treatment of Acute Stress Disorder and PTSD recommend that individually delivered trauma-focused CBT should be provided to people with these conditions [30]. There is data available to indicate that trauma-focused CBT may potentially have an effect not only on PTSD symptoms but also on pain and disability. The results of a recent empirical examination explored directional relationships between PTSD and chronic pain in 323 survivors of accidents [31]. The results indicated a mutual maintenance of pain intensity and posttraumatic stress symptoms at 5 days post injury but by 6 months post injury (chronic stage), PTSD symptoms impacted significantly on pain but not vice versa. Whilst this study did not specifically focus on whiplash injury, it provides indication that addressing PTSD symptoms in the chronic stage of WAD may allow for a decrease in levels of pain thus facilitating the potential effects of more pain/disability focused approaches to management such as exercise and pain-focused CBT.

Based on our findings of the co-occurrence of PTSD and WAD, we conducted a small pilot study with the aim being to test the effects of trauma-focused CBT on psychological factors, pain and disability in individuals with chronic WAD [32]. Twenty-six participants with chronic WAD and a diagnosis of PTSD were randomly assigned to treatment (n = 13) or no-Intervention (n = 13) control. The treatment group underwent 10 weekly sessions of trauma-focused CBT for PTSD. Assessments of PTSD diagnosis, psychological symptoms, disability, and pain symptoms were made at baseline and post-assessment (10-12 weeks). Following the treatment intervention, there was not only a significant reduction in psychological symptoms (PTSD symptom severity; numbers meeting the diagnostic criteria for PTSD; depression, anxiety and stress scores) but also a significant decrease in pain and disability and improvements in physical function, bodily pain and role physical items of the SF36 (Table 1).

Table 1. Results of pilot randomised control trial

	Trauma-focused CBT	No-intervention Control
Neck Disability Index (0-100)*
Baseline	43.7 (15)	42.8 (14.3)
Post intervention	38.7 (12.6)	43.9 (12.9)
SF-36 Physical Function �
Baseline	55.8 (25.9)	55.4 (28.2)
Post intervention	61.5 (20.1)	51.1 (26.3)
SF -36 Bodily Pain �
Baseline	31.2 (17.2)	22.6 (15.5)
Post intervention	41.8 (18)	28.2 (15.8)
Posttraumatic Stress Disorder Diagnosis (SCID-IV)
Baseline	N= 13 (100%)	N= 13 (100%)
Post intervention	N= 5 (39.5%)	N= 12 (92.3%)

* higher score=worse; �higher scores=better

The results of this study indicate that trauma-focused CBT provided to individuals with chronic WAD has positive effects, not only on psychological status but also on pain and disability the cardinal symptoms of this condition. Whilst the mean change of 5% was marginal in terms of a clinical relevance [33], the effect size for change of the NDI was moderate (d=0.4) and shows promise for a greater effect in a larger sample size [34]. Nevertheless our pilot trial findings suggest that trauma-focused CBT alone will not be enough for successful management of chronic WAD and for this reason our proposed trial will combine this approach with exercise. These findings are potentially ground breaking in the area of whiplash management and it is imperative that they are now tested in a full randomised controlled design.

In summary, we have already shown that individuals with chronic WAD and moderate PTSD symptoms do not respond as well to a physical rehabilitation based intervention as those without PTSD symptoms [25]. Our recent pilot study indicates that trauma-focused CBT has a beneficial effect on both psychological status and pain and disability. We propose that by pre-treating the PTSD, PTSD symptoms and pain related disability will decrease allowing the exercise intervention to be more effective than has been seen to date [24, 25]. Therefore our proposed research will address this identified gap in knowledge by being the first to evaluate the efficacy of a combined trauma-focused CBT intervention followed by exercise for chronic WAD.

The primary aim of this project is to investigate the effectiveness of combined trauma-focused CBT and exercise to decrease pain and disability of individuals with chronic whiplash and PTSD. The secondary aims are to investigate the effectiveness of combined trauma-focused CBT and exercise to decrease posttraumatic stress symptoms, anxiety and depression, and to investigate the effectiveness of trauma-focused CBT alone on posttraumatic stress symptoms and pain/disability.

This trial is expected to commence in June 2015 and completed by December 2018.

Design

This study will be a randomised controlled multi-centre trial evaluating 10 weeks of trauma-focused CBT compared with 10 weeks of supported therapy, each followed by a 6 week exercise program. Outcomes will be measured at 10 weeks, 16 weeks, 6 and 12 months post randomisation. A total of 108 people with chronic whiplash disorder (>3 months, <5 years duration) and PTSD (DSM-5 diagnosed with CAPS) will be enrolled in the study. The assessors measuring outcomes will be blinded to the assigned treatment group allocation. The protocol conforms to CONSORT guidelines.

Figure 2 Study Design

Methods

Participants

A total of 108 participants with chronic whiplash associated disorder (WAD) grade II (symptom duration >3 months and <5 years) and PTSD will be recruited from Southeast Queensland and Zealand, Denmark. Participants will be recruited via:

Advertisements (the Danish national health register, newspaper, newsletter and internet): potential participants will be invited to make contact with project staff.
Physiotherapy and General Medical Practices: the study will be promoted in physiotherapy and medical clinics where project staff already have a relationship. Patients deemed to be appropriate for inclusion will be given an information sheet about the project and invited to contact project staff directly.

There is a two-step process to determining inclusion to this study: initial online/telephone interview followed by a screening clinical examination. The initial interview will identify duration of whiplash injury (inclusion criteria) and moderate pain based on NDI scores, and potential exclusion criteria. Likelihood of PTSD will be based on conservative PCL-5 scores, requiring at least one moderate score per symptom and a minimum score of 30 overall. A description of the project will be provided to all volunteers at the point of initial contact. Volunteers deemed likely to be eligible will be invited to attend a screening clinical examination. If more than four weeks passes between the phone interview and clinical screening than the NDI and PCL-5 measures are to be re-administered.

Prior to undertaking the screening clinical examination, volunteers will be provided with participant information and asked to complete informed consent documentation. During the screening examination, participants who have significant co-morbidity such as serious spinal pathology will be identified and excluded from participation. To screen for serious pathology, a diagnostic triage will be conducted following the Motor Accident Authority of NSW Whiplash Guidelines [35]. The screening examination will also include a clinical interview by a research assistant who will administer the Clinician Administered PTSD scale 5 (CAPS 5) to determine the presence and severity of PTSD [36]. The research assistant will also confirm the absence of exclusion criteria such as past history or current presentation of psychosis, bipolar disorder, organic brain disorder and severe depression substance abuse. If participants report a diagnosis of an exclusion criteria the relevant section of SCID-I will be utilised to clarify diagnosis.

During the initial screen or during treatment, if a participant is identified as being at high risk of self-harm or suicide, they will be referred to appropriate care in accordance with the professional standards of psychologists. Participants who meet the inclusion criteria (NDI >30% and PTSD diagnosis) will then be evaluated on all outcome measures for baseline results. It is possible that volunteers invited to attend the screening clinical examination will not meet the inclusion criteria (NDI >30% and PTSD diagnosis) and will therefore be excluded from further participation. Volunteers will be informed of this possibility during the telephone interview and also during the informed consent process. The Interview will be recorded and a random selection will be assessed for consistency

Inclusion Criteria

Chronic WAD Grade II (no neurological deficit or fracture) [37] of at least 3 months duration but less than 5 years duration
At least moderate pain and disability (>30% on the NDI)
A diagnosis of PTSD (DSM-5, APA, 2013) using the CAPS 5
Aged between 18 and 70 years old
Proficient in written English or Danish (depending on country of participation)

Exclusion Criteria

Known or suspected serious spinal pathology (e.g. metastatic, inflammatory or infective diseases of the spine)
Confirmed fracture or dislocation at the time of injury (WAD Grade IV)
Nerve root compromise (at least 2 of the following signs: weakness/reflex changes/sensory loss associated with the same spinal nerve)
Spinal surgery in the last 12 months
A history or current presentation of psychosis, bipolar disorder, organic brain disorder or severe depression.

Sample Size

We are interested in detecting a clinically important difference between the two interventions, given that baseline values for each group are statistically equivalent as a result of the randomisation. Based on a two-sided t-test a sample of 86 (43 per group) will provide 80% power to detect a significant difference at alpha 0.05 between the group means of 10 points on the 100 point NDI (assuming a SD of 16, based on our pilot data and data from recent trials ). Effects smaller than this are unlikely to be considered clinically worthwhile. Allowing for a 20% loss to follow up by 12 months, we would require 54 participants per treatment group.

Intervention

Randomisation

Participants will be randomly allocated to treatment group. The randomisation schedule will be generated by the study biostatistician. Randomisation will be by random permuted blocks of 4 to 8. Consecutively numbered, sealed, opaque envelopes will be used to conceal randomisation. Group allocation will be performed immediately following completion of baseline measures by an independent (non-blinded) research assistant . This same research assistant will arrange all appointment times with the treating practitioners and the blinded assessor for all outcome measures. Participants will be instructed not to reveal details about their treatment to the examiner in order to assist with blinding. Patients will be scheduled to receive their first treatment within one week of randomisation.

Intervention group – Trauma-focused Cognitive-behavioural therapy (CBT)

A psychological intervention that targets PTSD symptoms will consist of 10 weekly 60-90 minute sessions of individually delivered trauma-focused CBT based on the Australian Guidelines for the treatment of Adults with Acute Stress Disorder and PTSD [38] (see Table 2). Session one will focus on providing psycho-education regarding the common symptoms of PTSD, maintaining factors and providing a rationale for various treatment components. Sessions two and three will continue to develop patient�s knowledge of PTSD symptoms and teach anxiety management strategies including deep breathing and progressive muscle relaxation. Cognitive restructuring which involves challenging unhelpful and irrational thoughts and beliefs will commence in session three and continue throughout treatment. Participants will start prolonged exposure in session four which will be paired with relaxation and cognitive challenging. Session six will introduce graded in-vivo exposure. Relapse prevention will also be included in the final two sessions [12]. Participants will be asked to complete a home practice over the course of their sessions which will be recorded and brought to the next session. Treatment will be delivered by registered psychologists with postgraduate clinical training and experience delivering trauma-focused CBT interventions.

Table 2. Overview of CBT program

Session	Overview
1	Introduction and rationale
2	Relaxation training
3	Relaxation training and cognitive challenging
4 and 5	Cognitive challenging and prolonged exposure
6	Prolonged exposure and in vivo exposure
7 and 8	Prolonged exposure and in-vivo exposure
9	Relapse prevention
10	Relapse prevention and end of treatment

Control group – Supportive Therapy

The first session will involve education about trauma and an explanation of the nature of supportive therapy. The following sessions will include discussions of current problems and general problem-solving skills. Home practice will involve diary keeping of current problems and mood states. Supportive therapy will specifically avoid exposure, cognitive restructuring or anxiety management techniques. If the results of the trial are favourable and participants randomised to this intervention still have a PTSD diagnosis at the 12 month follow-up, they will be offered a referral to a clinical psychologist.

Exercise Program

Following the 10 week psychological therapy sessions (intervention or control), All participants will participate in the same exercise program. The 6-week exercise program will be carried out under supervision from a physiotherapist (2 sessions in each of the first four weeks; and 1 session in week 5 and week 6) and will comprise specific exercises to improve the movement and control of the neck and shoulder girdles as well as proprioceptive and co-ordination exercises (see Table 3). The exercises will be tailored by the physiotherapist for each individual participant.

The program begins with a clinical examination of the cervical muscles and the axio-scapular-girdle muscles and includes tests that assess ability to recruit the muscles in a coordinated manner, tests of balance, cervical kinaesthesia and eye movement control and tests of muscle endurance at low levels of maximum voluntary contraction. The specific impairments that are identified are then addressed with an exercise program that is supervised and progressed by the physiotherapist. This specific treatment program has been described in detail [15] and focuses on activating and improving the co-ordination and endurance capacity of the neck flexor, extensor and scapular muscles in specific exercises and functional tasks, and a graded program directed to the postural control system, including balance exercises, head relocation exercises and exercises for eye movement control.

Participants will also perform the exercises at home, once a day. A log book will be completed by participants to record compliance with the exercises. At the same time, the physiotherapist will guide the subject�s return to normal activities.

Physiotherapists will adhere to cognitive-behavioural principles during training and supervision of all exercises [26]. The cognitive behavioural therapy principles include the encouragement of skill acquisition by modelling, setting progressive goals, self-monitoring of progress, and positive reinforcement of progress. Self-reliance will be fostered by encouraging subjects to engage in problem-solving to deal with difficulties rather than seeking reassurance and advice, by encouraging relevant and realistic activity goals, and by encouraging self-reinforcement. Daily physical activity at home will be encouraged and monitored using a diary. Written and illustrated exercise instructions will be provided.

Table 3. Overview of the exercise program

Week	Sessions per week	Components
1	2	�� Baseline & follow-up assessments to guide initial prescription & progression of program �� Exercise to improve cervical and scapular muscle control, kinaesthesia & balance �� Education and advice �� Daily home program including exercise & graded increase of physical activities �� CBT principles such as goal setting, reinforcement used by physiotherapists �� Discharge session to reinforce progress and plan for continued activity
2	2
3	2
4	2
5	1
6	1

Outcome Measures

At the baseline assessment, personal characteristics such as age, gender, level of education, compensation status, accident date and information about symptoms of whiplash will be collected. The following outcome measures will be assessed by a blind assessor at baseline, 10 weeks, 16 weeks, 6 months and 12 months post randomisation.

The Neck Disability Index (NDI) will be the primary outcome measure [21]. The NDI is a valid measure and reliable measure of neck pain related disability [21] and is recommended for use by the Bone and Joint Decade Neck Pain Task Force [7] and at the recent International Whiplash Summit [11, 16].

Secondary outcome measures include:

Average pain intensity over last week (0-10 scale) [39]
Average pain intensity over last 24 hours (0-10 scale) [39]
Patient�s global impression of recovery (-5 to +5 scale) [39]
Clinician administered PTSD scale 5 (CAPS 5) [40].
The PTSD Checklist (PCL-5) [41]
Depression Anxiety Stress Scale-21 (DASS-21) [42]
Generic measure of health status (SF-12) [43]
Patient-generated measure of disability (Patient-Specific Functional Scale) [44]
Physical measures (cervical range of movement, pressure pain threshold, cold pain threshold)
Pain Catastrophizing Scale (PCS) [45]
Pain Self Efficacy Questionnaire (PSEQ) [46]
Tampa Scale of Kinesiophobia (TSK) [47]

Expectations of a beneficial treatment effect will be measured with the Credibility Expectancy Questionnaire (CEQ) [48] at the first and last week of each treatment. Working alliance as reported by the client and the therapist (psych or physio) will also be measured at the first and last week of each treatment using the Working Alliance Inventory (WAI) [49].

Monitoring of Treatment Sites

Treatment sites will be located in areas easily accessible by public transport. Attempts will be made to have both the psychology and exercise sessions held at the same site. Prior to commencement of the trial, psychologists and physiotherapists at each treatment site will be provided with the appropriate therapist protocol. Psychologists will be trained to implement the CBT program and the supported therapy by senior investigators at a one day workshops. Physiotherapists will be trained by senior investigators to implement the exercise program at a one day workshop.

Prior to starting the trial, the different treatment provider sites and therapists will be provided with a copy of the trial and treatment protocols. Both psychological therapies will be conducted according to a procedural manual. Therapists will be required to record each session as well as complete a checklist of adherence to the protocol. A random sample of these recordings and checklists will be evaluated and ongoing supervision provided by a psychologist on the research team. Physiotherapy exercises will be based on a previous exercise trial for chronic WAD [25]. An audit of the physiotherapy sessions will be conducted twice during the intervention by a senior investigator expert in this area. A handover will occur between psychologist and physiotherapist to maintain continuity of care.

Adverse Events

Apart from the usual ethics committee based provisions for reporting of adverse effects, practitioners will be requested to report any adverse event to the Chief Investigators. Also at the 16 week follow-up, information about adverse effects of treatment will be sought from all subjects using open-ended questioning. At 6 and 12 months follow-up, data relating to the number of recurrences of neck pain, and the number of health care contacts will also be collected.

Statistical Analysis

The study biostatistician will analyse the data in a blinded manner. All analyses will be conducted on an intention to treat basis. The primary and secondary outcomes measured at 10 weeks, 16 weeks, 6 months, and 12 months will be analysed using linear mixed and logistic regression models that will include their respective baseline scores as a covariate, subjects as a random effect and treatment conditions as fixed factors. Diagnostics will be used to examine assumptions, including homogeneity of variances. Effect sizes will be calculated for all measures with an effect size of 0.2 considered small, 0.5 medium and 0.8 large. Alpha will be set at 0.05. Any effect of site (Qld or Denmark) will be evaluated by including a site-by-treatment group-by-time interaction term to the mixed models analyses. Effect modification will only be assessed for the primary outcome of NDI.

Funding

The trial is funded by a NHMRC Project grant 1059310.
The Council of the Danish Victims Fund Project grant 14-910-00013

Potential Significance

This project addresses a problem of major importance to human health. Whiplash is an enormous health burden for both Australia and all countries where there are motor vehicles. Current conservative approaches to the management of chronic WAD have been shown to be only marginally effective. One reason for this may be due to the lack of attention of current practice to the psychological status of whiplash injured patients. This study will provide a definitive evaluation of the effects of adding trauma-focused CBT to exercise for individuals with chronic WAD and PTSD.

This study is likely to influence the clinical management of whiplash injury and will have immediate clinical applicability. Any intervention that may improve health outcomes for individuals with chronic whiplash will have far reaching effects in both Australia and internationally. Our study will also have implications for both health and insurance policy makers in their decision making regarding treatment options and funding. A search of the WHO International Clinical Trials Registry Platform Search Portal on 2/3/13 revealed no planned or completed trial that would duplicate our work.

Conflict of Interest Declaration

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Role of Psychosocial Stress in Recovery from Common Whiplash

Abstract

It is widely accepted that psychosocial factors are related to illness behaviour and there is some evidence that they may influence the rate of recovery from post-traumatic disorders. The abilities of psychosocial stress, somatic symptoms, and subjectively assessed cognitive impairment to predict delayed recovery from common whiplash were investigated in a follow-up study. 78 consecutive patients referred 7.2 (SD 4.5) days after they had sustained common whiplash in car accidents were assessed for psychosocial stress, negative affectivity, personality traits, somatic complaints, and cognitive impairment by semistructured interview and by several standardised tests. On examination 6 months later 57 patients were fully recovered and 21 had persisting symptoms. The groups’ scores for the independent variables assessed at the baseline examination were compared. Stepwise regression analysis showed that psychosocial factors, negative affectivity, and personality traits were not significant in predicting the outcome. However, initial neck pain intensity, injury-related cognitive impairment, and age were significant factors predicting illness behaviour. This study, which was based on a random sample and which considered many other possible predictive factors as well as psychosocial status, does not support previous findings that psychosocial factors predict illness behaviour in post-trauma patients.

Dr Jimenez White Coat

Dr. Alex Jimenez’s Insight

Being involved in an automobile accident can be a traumatic experience for anyone. From physical injuries and financial problems, to emotional distress, an auto accident can place a heavy burden on those individuals who’ve experienced it, especially if the auto accident injuries begin to take a toll on the mind. Many patients visit my chiropractic office with anxiety, irrational fears, depression and PTSD after being involved in an automobile accident. Learning to trust again to receive chiropractic care can be challenging, but through careful and effective spinal adjustments and manual manipulations, our staff can provide patients with the sense of safety they need to continue treatment and achieve overall health and wellness.

In conclusion,�automobile accidents can cause a variety of physical injuries and conditions, such as whiplash, back pain and headaches, as well as financial issues, however, auto accident injuries and complications can also lead to emotional distress. According to evidence-based research studies, like the one above, emotional distress has been connected to chronic pain symptoms. Fortunately, researchers have conducted numerous research studies to demonstrate how mindfulness interventions, like chiropractic care, can help reduce emotional distress and improve painful symptoms. Information referenced from the National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI). The scope of our information is limited to chiropractic as well as to spinal injuries and conditions. To discuss the subject matter, please feel free to ask Dr. Jimenez or contact us at 915-850-0900 .

Curated by Dr. Alex Jimenez

Additional Topics: Back Pain

According to statistics, approximately 80% of people will experience symptoms of back pain at least once throughout their lifetimes. Back pain is a common complaint which can result due to a variety of injuries and/or conditions. Often times, the natural degeneration of the spine with age can cause back pain. Herniated discs occur when the soft, gel-like center of an intervertebral disc pushes through a tear in its surrounding, outer ring of cartilage, compressing and irritating the nerve roots. Disc herniations most commonly occur along the lower back, or lumbar spine, but they may also occur along the cervical spine, or neck. The impingement of the nerves found in the low back due to injury and/or an aggravated condition can lead to symptoms of sciatica.

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EXTRA IMPORTANT TOPIC: Managing Workplace Stress

Spinal Disc Problems? Why Chiropractic Is Preferred In El Paso, TX.

by Dr. Alex Jimenez DC, APRN, FNP-C | Back Pain, Conditions Treated, Spine Care

Chiropractic care for spinal disc problems is steadily increasing in popularity. As more and more research proves the effectiveness for chiropractic for these types of problems, doctors and therapists are incorporating it into treatment plans for their patients.

Spinal disc problems can be debilitating, causing significant pain and severely limiting mobility. Degenerative disc disease is one of the most common spinal problems, causing back pain that, like other spinal conditions, can extend into the hip and leg or even the arm and hand.

It is caused by degeneration or thinning of the spinal joints or discs which can disrupt the mechanics of the spine and contribute to bulging discs that press on spinal nerves. Traditional treatment of this condition usually consists of strong pain medication and sometimes surgery.

Patients who are dealing with pain from discs that are bulging or ruptured as well as herniated, or slipped discs, do respond well to chiropractic care. Where surgery has long been a primary medical answer to pain relief for these spinal conditions, chiropractic treatments offer a nonsurgical alternative that has been shown to be very effective.

Most spinal or disc problems are marked by a specific set of symptoms including neck and back pain, stiffness, arm pain, leg pain, and tenderness in the spinal muscles or the spine itself. Other more serious symptoms can present at the onset of the condition or over a period of time. These symptoms indicate a dangerous problem that could even be life threatening; they include:

Back pain accompanied by fever
Loss of control of bladder or bowel
Severe weakness that inhibits the ability to use arms, legs, walk, etc.
Loss of sensation in both arms and/or both buttocks
Inability to defecate or urinate

More serious or life threatening symptoms may require medical intervention, but most spinal conditions can be helped or even corrected with chiropractic care.

Through the careful, precise manipulation of the spine, a chiropractor can make adjustments to the body that help relieve the pain and pressure. This treatment can halt the debilitating progression of certain spinal problems while relieving pain and increasing mobility.

Spinal problems are usually diagnosed by a combination of complete physical examination and a thorough patient history. During the examination the patient�s musculoskeletal and nervous systems are carefully assessed. A doctor of chiropractic will examine the patient by moving the patient into different positions using their legs, arms, and back while applying pressure to the joints. Other diagnostic tools include x-rays and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI).

The preferable course of treatment for spinal problems is more conservative in nature. The earlier the problem can be diagnosed and treatment can begin, the better. There are several different treatments that a doctor of chiropractic may do to control and treat the pain. Modalities such as heat and ice applied to the affected area have been proven effective in controlling injury related pain in the lower back.

Movement is also crucial to healing and the sooner the patient gets back on their feet, the better. For most injuries or back problems, those problems are exacerbated when the patient stays in bed or coddles their back instead of walking and moving. It can result in long term back problems.

Spinal manipulation by a doctor of chiropractic has been proven to be an effective, safe treatment for disc problems and associated pain. In some cases therapeutic exercise may be added to the treatment and this too has been shown to be very effective.

In most cases, chiropractic care is sufficient and surgery of the spine or injections are unnecessary to manage the problems. In fact, these more invasive therapies often create more problems than they cure. Chiropractic care should be the first course of action for spine related pain, injury, or problems. So if you or a loved one are suffering from spinal disc problems, make sure you give us a call. We�re here to help!

Spinal Disc Problems: Chiropractic Treatment Can Help

Effectiveness of Mindfulness on Herniated Discs & Sciatica in El Paso, TX

by spinedoctors | Conditions Treated, Herniated Disc, Physical Rehabilitation, Randomized Controlled Trial, Spinal Decompression Treatments, Stress, Treatments

Chronic low back pain is the second most common cause of disability in the United States. Approximately 80 percent of the population will experience back pain at least once throughout their lifetime. The most prevalent causes of chronic low back pain include: herniated discs, sciatica, injuries from lifting heavy objects or any other non-specific spine injury. However, people will often react differently to their symptoms. These differing responses are due to people’s psychological attitudes and outlooks.

Chronic Low Back Pain and the Mind

Stress has been associated with increased pain but your own personal health beliefs and coping strategies can influence your own perception of pain as well. That’s because psychological vulnerabilities can alter your brain and intensify the pain. Additionally, the pain itself can rewire the brain.�When pain first occurs, it impacts the pain-sensitivity brain circuits. When pain becomes persistent, the associated brain activity switches from the pain circuits to circuits that process emotions. That’s why it’s believed that stress, anxiety and depression can cause as well as worsen chronic low back pain.

Managing the Scourge of Chronic Low Back Pain

Fortunately, several stress management methods and techniques can help improve chronic low back pain. Mindfulness is the most common treatment with the best supporting evidence towards improving and managing chronic pain.�A recent study demonstrated that mindfulness-based stress reduction, or MBSR, including mindfulness meditation and other mindfulness interventions, can help reduce back pain and enhance psychological control by increasing brain blood flow to the frontal lobe. Practicing mindfulness involves activating a brain relaxation pathway by intentionally ignoring mental “chatter” and focusing on your breathing.�Cognitive behavioral therapy, or CBT can also be helpful for chronic low back pain. Cognitive behavioral therapy can prevent an acute injury from progressing to chronic low back pain. Hypnosis may also help relieve chronic low back pain. However, CBT and hypnosis have weaker evidence to support their effectiveness on back pain.

Mind Over Matter

So while it may seem that chronic low back pain is all “in your head”, research studies have demonstrated that stress can influence painful symptoms.��Mind� includes �matter,� especially when you consider that the physical �matter� of the brain plays a major role in mindset changes. This is especially true when it comes to the brain-based changes related to low back pain. The purpose of the article below is to demonstrate the effectiveness of mindfulness meditation on chronic low back pain.

Effectiveness of Mindfulness Meditation on Pain and Quality of Life of Patients with Chronic Low Back Pain

Abstract

Background and aim: Recovery of patients with chronic low back pain (LBP) is depended on several physical and psychological factors. Therefore, the authors aimed to examine the efficacy of mindfulness based stress reduction (MBSR) as a mind-body intervention on quality of life and pain severity of female patients with nonspecific chronic LBP (NSCLBP).
Methods: Eighty-eight patients diagnosed as NSCLBP by physician and randomly assigned to experimental (MBSR+ usual medical care) and the control group (usual medical care only). The subjects assessed in 3 times frames; before, after and 4 weeks after intervention by Mac Gil pain and standard brief quality of life scales. Data obtained from the final sample analyzed by ANCOVA using SPSS software.
Results: The findings showed MBSR was effective in reduction of pain severity and the patients who practiced 8 sessions meditation reported significantly lower pain than patients who only received usual medical care. There was a significant effect of the between subject factor group (F [1, 45] = 16.45, P < 0.001) and (F [1, 45] = 21.51, P < 0.001) for physical quality of life and (F [1, 45] = 13.80, P < 0.001) and (F [1, 45] = 25.07, P < 0.001) mental quality of life respectively.
Conclusion: MBSR as a mind-body therapy including body scan, sitting and walking meditation was effective intervention on reduction of pain severity and improvement of physical and mental quality of life of female patients with NSCLBP.
Keywords: Chronic low back pain, mindfulness based stress reduction, pain, quality of life, SF-12

Introduction

In nonspecific low back pain (NSLBP) the pain is not related to conditions such as fractures, spondylitis, direct trauma, or neoplastic, infectious, vascular, metabolic, or endocrine-related although it is a cause of limitation in daily activities due to actual pain or fear of pain.[1] Unfortunately, the majority of LBP patients (80�90%) suffers from nonspecific LBP which leads to considerable pain-related disability and limitation in daily activities.[1,2] Chronic LBP is not only prevalent, but is also a source of great physical disability, role impairment, and diminished psychological well-being and quality of life.[1]

Prior to the current accepted biopsychosocial model, the biomedical model dominated all illness conceptualizations for almost 300 years and still dominates in the popular imagination. First proposed by Engel (1977) the biopsychosocial model acknowledges biological processes but also highlights the importance of experiential and psychological factors in pain. The famous gate control theory of pain[3] also proposed that the brain plays a dynamic role in pain perception as opposed to being a passive recipient of pain signals. They suggested psychological factors can inhibit or enhance sensory flow of pain signals and thus influence the way brain ultimately responds to painful stimulation.[4] If mind processes can change the way the brain processes pain then this holds tremendous potential for psychological intervention to produce reduced pain signals from the brain.

Kabat-Zinn’s et al. (1986) described the process of pain reduction in his paper on mindfulness and meditation. The process of pain reduction occurred by �an attitude of detached observation toward a sensation when it becomes prominent in the field of awareness and to observe with similar detachment the accompanying but independent cognitive processes which lead to evaluation and labeling of the sensation as painful, as hurt.� Thus, by �uncoupling� the physical sensation, from the emotional and cognitive experience of pain, the patient is able to reduce the pain.[5] The patients� descriptions of distraction from pain, identifying maladaptive coping strategies toward pain and heightened awareness of pain sensation leading to behavioral changes are examples of how pain is unassociated with emotion, cognition, and sensation [Figure 1]. Therefore recently these theories attracted several researchers who are working on pain.

Figure 1: Consort diagram.

Mindfulness meditation has roots in Buddhist Vipassana philosophy and practice and has been independently adopted within clinical psychology in Western societies.[6,7,8,9] Recently in Netherlands Veehof et al. conducted a systematic review of controlled and noncontrolled studies on effectiveness of acceptance-based interventions such as mindfulness-based stress reduction program, acceptance and commitment therapy for chronic pain. Primary outcomes measured were pain intensity and depression. Secondary outcomes measured were anxiety, physical well-being and quality of life.[10] Twenty-two studies randomized controlled studies clinical controlled studies without randomization and noncontrolled studies were included totaling 1235 patients with chronic pain. An effect size on pain of (0.37) was found in the controlled studies. The effect on depression was (0.32). The authors concluded that ACT and mindfulness interventions had similar effects to other cognitive-behavioral therapy interventions and that these types of interventions may be a useful alternative or adjunct to current therapies. Chiesa and Serretti also conducted another systematic review on 10 mindfulness interventions.[11] The main findings were that these interventions produced small nonspecific effects in terms of reducing chronic pain and symptoms of depression. When compared to active control groups (support and education) no additional significant effects were noted.

In summary, there is a need for further studies into the specific effects of mindfulness studies on chronic pain. Regarding as the researcher knowledge efficacy of mindfulness has not been explored on quality of life of chronic pain patients in Iran. The authors aimed to examine the impact of mindfulness based stress reduction (MBSR) protocol designed for pain management on quality of life and pain of a homogeneous sample of females with nonspecific chronic LBP (NSCLBP) in comparison of the usual medical care group.

Methods

Sampling

Out of initial female samples aged 30�45 (n = 155) who diagnosed as chronic NSLBP by physicians in physiotherapy centers of Ardebil-Iran at least 6 months before. Only 88 met inclusion criteria and gave consent to participate in the research program. Patients were randomly assigned in small groups to receive MBSR plus medical usual care (experimental group) and medical usual care (control group). Some patients dropped during and after the treatment. The final sample of the study comprised of 48 females.

Inclusion Criteria

Age 30�45 years
Being under medical treatments like physiotherapy and medicine
Medical problem-history of NSCLBP and persisting pain for at least 6 months
Language – Persian
Gender – female
Qualification – educated at least up to high school
Consent and willingness to alternative and complementary therapies for pain management.

Exclusion Criteria

History of spine surgery
Combination with other chronic disease
Psychotherapy in the last 2 years excluded
Unavailability in next 3 months.

The proposal of study approved by the scientific committee of �Panjab University,� psychology department and all patients signed consent to participate in the present study. The study approved in India (in the university which researcher done her PhD), but conducted in Iran because researcher is from Iran originally and there was language and culture difference problem. Approval from Institutional Ethics Committee of physiotherapy center of Ardebil was obtained in Iran also to carry out the research.

Design

The study made use of the pre-post quasi time series experimental design to assess the efficacy of MBSR in 3 times frames (before-after-4 weeks after the program). A MBSR program administered one session per week for explaining techniques, practice, and feedback and share their experience for 8 weeks beside 30�45 min� daily home practice [Table 1]. The intervention was conducted in three groups included 7�9 participants in each group. The process of framing the program was based on the quid lines provided by Kabat-Zinn, Morone (2008a, 2008b and 2007)[6,12,13,14] and some adaptation done for the patients involved in the study. The control group was not offered any type of intervention in the research project. Consequently, they underwent the normal routines in healthcare including physiotherapy and medicine.

Table 1: Content of MBSR sessions.

Intervention

The sessions conducted in a private physiatrist clinic near to physiotherapy centers. Sessions took 8 weeks, and each session lasted for 90 min. Meditation transformed the patients� awareness through the techniques of breathing and mindfulness. The intervention was conducted in small groups included 7�9 participants in each group. Table 1 for details of session’s content which prepared according books and previous studies.[6,12,13,14]

Assessments

The questionnaire completed by patients before the intervention, after intervention and 4 weeks after the interventions. The receptor of physiotherapy centers conducted the assessment. The receptors trained before conducting the assessment, and they were blind for the hypothesis of the study. The following are used for assessment of participants:

McGill Pain Questionnaire

The main component of this scale consists of 15 descriptive adjectives, 11 sensory including: Throbbing, Shooting, Stabbing, Sharp, Cramping, Gnawing, Hot-burning, Aching, Heavy, Tender, Splitting, and four affective including: Tiring-exhausting, Sickening, Fearful, Punishing-cruel, which are rated by the patients according to their severity on a four point scale (0 = none, 1 = mild, 2 = moderate, 3 = severe), yielding three scores. The sensory and affective scores are calculated by adding sensory and affective item values separately, and the total score is the sum of the two above-mentioned scores. In this study, we just used pain rating index with total scores. Adelmanesh et al.,[15] translated and validated Iran version of this questionnaire.

Quality of Life (SF-12)

The quality of life assessed by the validated SF-12 Health Survey.[16] It was developed as a shorter, quicker-to-complete alternative to the SF-36v2 Health Survey and measures the same eight health constructs. The constructs are: Physical functioning; role physical; bodily pain; general health; vitality; social functioning; role emotional; and mental health. Items have five response choices (for example: All of the time, most of the time, some of the time, a little of the time, none of the time), apart from two questions for which there are three response choices (for the physical functioning domain). Four items are reverse scored. Summed raw scores in the eight domains are transformed to convert the lowest possible score to zero and the highest possible score to 100. Higher scores represent better health and well-being. The standard form SF-12 uses a time frame of the past 4 weeks.[16]

The Iranian version of SF-12 in Montazeri et al. (2011) study showed satisfactory internal consistency for both summary measures, that are the Physical Component Summary (PCS) and the Mental Component Summary (MCS); Cronbach’s ? for PCS-12 and MCS-12 was 0.73 and 0.72, respectively. The known – group comparison showed that the SF-12 discriminated well between men and women and those who differed in age and educational status (P < 0.001) 2.5.[17]

Statistical Analysis

The SPSS 20 (Armonk, NY: IBM Corp) was used to analysis of data. For descriptive analysis mean, standard deviation (SD) used. For performing ANCOVA, the pretest scores were used as covariates.

Results

The mean age was 40.3, SD = 8.2. 45% of females were working and the rest were a house wife. 38% had two children, 55% one child and the rest did have children. All were married and from middle-income families. 9.8% of patients reported very low physical quality of life, and the rest were low (54.8%) and moderate (36.4%). This was 12.4%, 40% and 47.6% very low, low and medium levels of mental quality of life in patients participated in our study (n = 48). The mean and SD of patients in MBSR and control group showed a decrease in pain and increase in mental and physical quality of life [Table 2].

Table 2: Mean and SD of patients in pain, mental and physical quality of life in baseline, after intervention and 4 weeks after intervention.

Comparative Results

Pain. The results indicated that after adjusting for pretest scores, there was a significant effect of the between subject factor group (F [1, 45] =110.4, P < 0.001) and (F [1, 45] =115.8, P < 0.001). Adjusted post-test scores suggest that the intervention had an effect on increasing the pain scores of the NSCLBP patients who received the MBSR as compared to those who were in the control group and did not receive any mind-body therapy [Table 3].

Table 3: The result of comparison of pain and quality of life of MBSR and control group after intervention (time 1) and 4 weeks after intervention (time 2).

Quality of life. The results shows that after adjusting for pretest scores, there was a significant effect of the between subject factor group (F [1, 45] =16.45, P < 0.001) and (F [1, 45] =21.51, P < 0.001). Adjusted post-test scores suggest that the intervention had an effect on increasing the physical quality of life scores of the NSCLBP patients who received the MBSR as compared to those who were in the control group and did not receive any mind-body therapy [Table 3].

The results also showed that after adjusting for pretest scores, there was a significant effect of the between subject factor group (F [1, 45] =13.80, P < 0.001) and (F [1, 45] =25.07, P < 0.001). Adjusted post-test scores suggest that the intervention had an effect on increasing the mental quality of life scores of the NSCLBP patients who received the MBSR as compared to those who were in the control group and did not receive any psychological therapy [Table 3].

Dr Jimenez White Coat

Dr. Alex Jimenez’s Insight

Mindfulness is the psychological process which involves�activating a brain relaxation pathway by intentionally ignoring mental “chatter”, bringing one’s attention to experiences occurring in the present moment and focusing on your breathing. Mindfulness can commonly be achieved through the practice of meditation and stress management methods and techniques. According to research studies, mindfulness is an effective treatment option which can help decrease chronic low back pain. Researchers have previously compared mindfulness-based stress reduction, or MBSR, with cognitive behavioral therapy to determine whether these mindfulness interventions could improve chronic low back pain. The following article was also conducted to determine if mindfulness meditation is an effective treatment option for chronic low back pain. The results of both research studies were promising, demonstrating that mindfulness can be more effective for chronic low back pain than traditional treatment options as well as the use of drugs and/or medication.

Discussion

The results showed that the experimental group who were subjected to the MBSR showed a significant improvement in their overall pain severity, physical and mental quality of life scores due to the training received as compared to the control group who received only usual medical care. The program reduced pain perception and enhanced both physical and mental quality of life and impacted on the experimental group clearly in comparison of the usual medical care. Baranoff et al., 2013,[18] Nykl�cek and Kuijpers, 2008,[19] and Morone (2) et al., 2008[20] reported the same results.

Kabat-Zinn et al. believed the process of pain reduction occurred by �uncoupling� the physical sensation, from the emotional and cognitive experience of pain, the patient is able to reduce the pain.[21] In the current study, the participants uncoupled the different components of the experience of pain. Breathing exercise distract their mind from pain to breathing and mindful living made them aware about maladaptive coping strategies.

In the first session, information given about the fundamentals of mindfulness, describing the mindfulness supporting attitudes included being nonjudgmental toward thought, emotions or sensations as they arise, patience, nonstriving, compassion, acceptance and curiosity gave them a wisdom and believe that they are suffering from painful thoughts more than the pain itself.

Furthermore, during body scan practice they learned to see their real body conditions, as it truly was, without trying to change the reality. Accepting their chronic illness condition helped them see the other possible abilities in their social and emotional roles. In fact the body scan practice helped them change the relationship with their body and pain. Through direct experience in body scan, one realizes the interconnection between the state of the mind and the body, and thereby increases patients� self-control over their life. Mindful living techniques also improved their quality of life by teaching them to pay more attention to their daily life necessities, which led to the experience of subtle positive emotions, like peace and joy, self-esteem and confidence. Furthermore, they appreciated positive things. Once they learned to see the persistent pain objectively and observe other sensations in their body, they applied the same principles through mindful living techniques in their everyday life. As a result, they learned how to manage their health and began to engage in their duties mindfully.

A number of research studies such as Plews-Ogan et al.,[22] Grossman et al.,[23] and Sephton et al., (2007)[24] showed effectiveness of mindfulness meditation program on quality of life of patients with chronic pain conditions.

Conclusion

All together the result of this study and previous studies highlighted the effectiveness of complementary and alternative treatment for patients with chronic LBP. Regarding the considerable role of quality of life in professional and personal life designing the effective psychotherapies especially for enhancement of quality of life of patients with chronic LBP strongly suggested by the authors.

This study involved with several limitations such as ununiformed usual care received by patients. The provided physiotherapy sessions or methods and medicine prescribed by different physicians in slightly different manner. Although some patients commonly dose not completed physiotherapy sessions. The sample size was small and it was only limited to three centers. This is suggested for future researchers to conduct study with considering physiologic variables such as MRI, NMR and neurologic signals to test the efficacy of MBSR to decrease pain sufferer.

In conclusion, more evidence-based larger scale researches with longer-term follow-up need to be done to increase the therapeutic weight and value of MBSR as a part of complementary alternative medicine being preventive and rehabilitation method among CLBP patients.

Acknowledgement

We are thankful from patients who were corporate with us. Dr. Afzalifard and staff of physiotherapy centers of Ardebil.

Footnotes

Source of support: Nil.
Conflict of interest: None declared.

In conclusion,�mindfulness�is the most prevalent treatment with the best supporting evidence towards improving and managing chronic low back pain. Mindfulness interventions, such as mindfulness-based stress reduction and cognitive behavioral therapy, have demonstrated to be effective for chronic low back pain. Furthermore, mindfulness meditation was also demonstrated to effectively help improve as well as manage chronic low back pain caused by stress. However, further research studies are still required to determine a solid outcome measure for mindfulness interventions and chronic pain. Information referenced from the National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI). The scope of our information is limited to chiropractic as well as to spinal injuries and conditions. To discuss the subject matter, please feel free to ask Dr. Jimenez or contact us at 915-850-0900 .

Curated by Dr. Alex Jimenez

Additional Topics: Back Pain

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24.�Sephton SE, Salmon P, Weissbecker I, Ulmer C, Floyd A, Hoover K, et al. Mindfulness meditation alleviates depressive symptoms in women with fibromyalgia: Results of a randomized clinical trial.�Arthritis Rheum.�2007;57:77�85.�[PubMed]

Close Accordion

Mobile Devices Are Wrecking Our Spines In El Paso, TX.

by Dr. Alex Jimenez DC, APRN, FNP-C | Conditions Treated, Neck Pain, Neck Pain Treatments, Spine Care

Nearly everyone has a smartphone or mobile device these days, and while there is some merit to this technology by keeping us more connected � at least virtually � it is wreaking havoc on our bodies. When you look at the posture that people assume when texting, reading email, or browsing social media while on their mobile device or smartphone, you will see their head bent forward and rounded shoulders. They typically hold the device either at chest level or waist level meaning that their hands are together, forming an almost crouch position.

This is very bad for the spine but it creates problems for other parts of the body even beyond the spine. Let�s take a look at some of the common issues that come with bad smartphone posture.

Mobile Device Injuries

Text Neck

The more you tilt your head downward (just as you do when looking at a smartphone), the more pounds of pressure you put on your neck and back. Your spine supports the weight of your head. The more it is thrust forward, looking down, the heavier your head gets. Doctors are seeing many young people with this problem, some even as young as 8 years old.

It is characterized by tightness or tension in the neck and shoulders as well as the upper back. Some patients report pain while others feel pressure, and others feel tightness. Sometimes the pain will spread throughout the body or from the neck to the arms and hands.

Forearm & Wrist Pain

Even the way you hold your phone in your hands can cause problems. Since you keep your hand in one position for long periods of time your muscles never have a chance to relax. You have several muscles engaged to do this: the forearms, the wrist, and the neck.

If you are experiencing pain, sometimes shooting, in your elbow or wrist your smartphone use may be the culprit. So put the phones away or leave them at home.

Sore Upper & Lower Back

As your neck struggles to support your head which is rolled forward, it stands to reason that you will experience back pain. In fact, both upper and lower back pain have been attributed to smartphone use.

Think about the muscles that run along your spine. They help stabilize it and help control and support your head. When you hunch over you strain those muscles in your upper back. What you may not realize is that similar strain is being put on the muscles in your lower back as well.

Blackberry Thumb

The muscles in your hand are very small but they can cause you a great deal of pain if you frequently use a mobile device. As you type on the keyboard of your smart phone, it can cause problems with tendons and ligament as well as the muscles.

This repetitive stress of the body is caused daily by people who stay hunched over their small phone screen. The repetitive movement of your thumb as it manipulates the device can cause inflammation in the thumb and hand.

Headaches From Tension In Neck & Back

One of the most common ailments associated with mobile device usage is headaches. These headaches can come from tension in the neck, strained muscled in the back, or overworked muscles through the hand and arm into the shoulder. It can also come from eyestrain caused by staring at the screen for extended amounts of time, looking at tiny text.

There is no doubt that mobile device usage is becoming a serious problem in our society today. While there are the people who text while driving or while walking, posing a significant threat to their own and others� safety, what they are doing to their own bodies is enough to cause alarm.

Chiropractic care can ease the pain and reverse a good portion of the damage that has been done, but if when people continue with the same bad habits the treatment is only temporary. There needs to be a focused effort made to pull people out of their mobile devices, at least a portion of the time, to minimize the structural spinal damage they are doing to themselves.

Chiropractic Treatment For Proper Posture

Effects of Stress Management Treatment for Low Back Pain in El Paso, TX

by spinedoctors | Chiropractic, Physical Rehabilitation, Randomized Controlled Trial, Stress, Treatments

Chiropractic care is a well-known alternative treatment option commonly used for a variety of injuries and/or conditions, including low back pain and sciatica. Of course, not all pain is physical nor does it always have a physical cause. Stress, anxiety and depression affects millions of people each year. While many patients require prescription drug therapy to treat their mental health issues, others may be able to control and treat they symptoms with a holistic approach. Chiropractic care is an effective stress management treatment which can help reduce symptoms associated with stress, such as low back pain and sciatica.

How Does Stress Affect the Body?

There are 3 major categories of stress: bodily, environmental and emotional.

Bodily stress: Caused by lack of sleep, disease, trauma or injury, and an improper nutrition.
Environmental stress: Caused by loud noises (sudden or sustained), pollution and world events, such as war and politics.
Emotional stress: Caused by a variety of life events, such as moving homes, starting a new job and regular personal interactions. In contrast to the other two categories of stress, however, people can have some control over their emotional stress. Such can depend on the individual’s own attitude.

Stress can affect the human body in a variety of ways, both positively and negatively, physically and emotionally. Although short-term stress can be helpful, long-term stress can cause many cumulative health issues on both the mind and body. Stress activates the “fight or flight” response, a defense mechanism triggered by the sympathetic nervous system to prepare the body for perceived danger by increasing heart rate and breathing as well as the senses, by way of instance, eyesight can become more acute. Once the stressor goes away, the central nervous system relays the message to the body and the vitals return to normal.

In several instances, the central nervous system can fail to relay the signal to the body when it is time to return to its relaxed state. Many people also experience persistent, recurrent stress, referred to as chronic stress. Either occurrence takes a toll on the human body. This type of stress can often lead to pain, anxiety, irritability and depression.

Managing Your Stress

Chronic stress can cause painful symptoms, such as low back pain and sciatica, which can then cause more stress. Pain generally contributes to mood issues, such as anxiety and depression, clouded thought processes, and an inability to concentrate. Individuals with chronic stress who experience painful symptoms may feel unable to perform and engage in regular activities.

Stress management treatment can help people improve as well as manage their chronic stress and its associated symptoms. Chiropractic care can help reduce pain and muscle tension, further decreasing stress. The central nervous system can also benefit from the effects of chiropractic treatment. The central nervous system, or CNS, helps regulate mood, as well as full-body health and wellness, meaning that a balanced central nervous system can help enhance overall well-being.

Benefits of Chiropractic Care

Chiropractic care is a holistic treatment approach, designed to return the body to the original state it needs to maintain the muscles and joints functioning properly. Chronic stress can cause muscle tension along the back, which can eventually lead to spinal misalignments. A misalignment of the spine, or a subluxation, can contribute to a variety of symptoms, including nausea and vomiting, headaches and migraines, stress and digestive issues. A chiropractor utilized spinal adjustments and manual manipulations to release pressure and decrease the inflammation around the spine to improve nerve function and allow the body to heal itself naturally. Alleviating pain can ultimately help decrease stress and enhance overall health and wellness. Chiropractic care can also include massage as well as counseling to help control stress, anxiety and depression.

A Holistic Care Approach

Most chiropractors will utilize other treatment methods and techniques, such as physical therapy, exercise, and nutrition advice, to further increase the stress management effects of chiropractic care. These lifestyle changes affect every area of your well-being. Furthermore, the purpose of the article below is to demonstrate the effects of mindfulness-based stress reduction compared to cognitive-behavioral therapy and usual care on stress with associated symptoms of chronic low back pain and sciatica.

Effects of Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction vs Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy and Usual Care on Back Pain and Functional Limitations among Adults with Chronic Low Back Pain: A Randomized Clinical Trial

Abstract

Importance

Mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR) has not been rigorously evaluated for young and middle-aged adults with chronic low back pain.

Objective

To evaluate the effectiveness for chronic low back pain of MBSR versus usual care (UC) and cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT).

Design, Setting, and Participants

Randomized, interviewer-blind, controlled trial in integrated healthcare system in Washington State of 342 adults aged 20�70 years with CLBP enrolled between September 2012 and April 2014 and randomly assigned to MBSR (n = 116), CBT (n = 113), or UC (n = 113).

Interventions

CBT (training to change pain-related thoughts and behaviors) and MBSR (training in mindfulness meditation and yoga) were delivered in 8 weekly 2-hour groups. UC included whatever care participants received.

Main Outcomes and Measures

Co-primary outcomes were the percentages of participants with clinically meaningful (?30%) improvement from baseline in functional limitations (modified Roland Disability Questionnaire [RDQ]; range 0 to 23) and in self-reported back pain bothersomeness (0 to 10 scale) at 26 weeks. Outcomes were also assessed at 4, 8, and 52 weeks.

Results

Among 342 randomized participants (mean age, 49 (range, 20�70); 225 (66%) women; mean duration of back pain, 7.3 years (range 3 months to 50 years), <60% attended 6 or more of the 8 sessions, 294 (86.0%) completed the study at 26 weeks and 290 (84.8%) completed the study 52weeks. In intent-to-treat analyses, at 26 weeks, the percentage of participants with clinically meaningful improvement on the RDQ was higher for MBSR (61%) and CBT (58%) than for UC (44%) (overall P = 0.04; MBSR versus UC: RR [95% CI] = 1.37 [1.06 to 1.77]; MBSR versus CBT: 0.95 [0.77 to 1.18]; CBT versus UC: 1.31 [1.01 to 1.69]. The percentage of participants with clinically meaningful improvement in pain bothersomeness was 44% in MBSR and 45% in CBT, versus 27% in UC (overall P = 0.01; MBSR versus UC: 1.64 [1.15 to 2.34]; MBSR versus CBT: 1.03 [0.78 to 1.36]; CBT versus UC: 1.69 [1.18 to 2.41]). Findings for MBSR persisted with little change at 52 weeks for both primary outcomes.

Conclusions and Relevance

Among adults with chronic low back pain, treatment with MBSR and CBT, compared with UC, resulted in greater improvement in back pain and functional limitations at 26 weeks, with no significant differences in outcomes between MBSR and CBT. These findings suggest that MBSR may be an effective treatment option for patients with chronic low back pain.

Introduction

Low back pain is a leading cause of disability in the U.S. [1]. Despite numerous treatment options and greatly increased medical care resources devoted to this problem, the functional status of persons with back pain in the U.S. has deteriorated [2, 3]. There is need for treatments with demonstrated effectiveness that are low-risk and have potential for widespread availability.

Psychosocial factors play important roles in pain and associated physical and psychosocial disability [4]. In fact, 4 of the 8 non-pharmacologic treatments recommended for persistent back pain include �mind-body� components [4]. One of these, cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT), has demonstrated effectiveness for various chronic pain conditions [5�8] and is widely recommended for patients with chronic low back pain (CLBP). However, patient access to CBT is limited. Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) [9], another �mind-body� approach, focuses on increasing awareness and acceptance of moment-to-moment experiences, including physical discomfort and difficult emotions. MBSR is becoming increasingly popular and available in the U.S. Thus, if demonstrated beneficial for CLBP, MBSR could offer another psychosocial treatment option for the large number of Americans with this condition. MBSR and other mindfulness-based interventions have been found helpful for a range of conditions, including chronic pain [10�12]. However, only one large randomized clinical trial (RCT) has evaluated MBSR for CLBP [13], and that trial was limited to older adults.

This RCT compared MBSR with CBT and usual care (UC). We hypothesized that adults with CLBP randomized to MBSR would show greater short- and long-term improvement in back pain-related functional limitations, back pain bothersomeness, and other outcomes, as compared with those randomized to UC. We also hypothesized that MBSR would be superior to CBT because it includes yoga, which has been found effective for CLBP [14].

Methods

Study Design, Setting, and Participants

We previously published the Mind-Body Approaches to Pain (MAP) trial protocol [15]. The primary source of participants was Group Health (GH), a large integrated healthcare system in Washington State. Letters describing the trial and inviting participation were mailed to GH members who met the electronic medical record (EMR) inclusion/exclusion criteria, and to random samples of residents in communities served by GH. Individuals who responded to the invitations were screened and enrolled by telephone (Figure 1). Potential participants were told that they would be randomized to one of �two different widely-used pain self-management programs that have been found helpful for reducing pain and making it easier to carry out daily activities� or to continued usual care plus $50. Those assigned to MBSR or CBT were not informed of their treatment allocation until they attended the first session. We recruited participants from 6 cities in 10 separate waves.

Figure 1: Flow of participants through trial comparing mindfulness-based stress reduction with cognitive-behavioral therapy and usual care for chronic low back pain.

We recruited individuals 20 to 70 years of age with non-specific low back pain persisting at least 3 months. Persons with back pain associated with a specific diagnosis (e.g., spinal stenosis), with compensation or litigation issues, who would have difficulty participating (e.g., unable to speak English, unable to attend classes at the scheduled time and location), or who rated pain bothersomeness <4 and/or pain interference with activities <3 on 0�10 scales were excluded. Inclusion and exclusion criteria were assessed using EMR data for the previous year (for GH enrollees) and screening interviews. Participants were enrolled between September 2012 and April 2014. Due to slow enrollment, after 99 participants were enrolled, we stopped excluding persons 64�70 years old, GH members without recent visits for back pain, and patients with sciatica. The trial protocol was approved by the GH Human Subjects Review Committee. All participants gave informed consent.

Randomization

Immediately after providing consent and completing the baseline assessment, participants were randomized in equal proportions to MBSR, CBT, or UC. Randomization was stratified by the baseline score (?12 versus ?13, 0�23 scale) of one of the primary outcome measures, the modified Roland Disability Questionnaire (RDQ) [16]. Participants were randomized within these strata in blocks of 3, 6, or 9. The stratified randomization sequence was generated by the study biostatistician using R statistical software [17], and the sequence was stored in the study recruitment database and concealed from study staff until randomization.

Interventions

All participants received any medical care they would normally receive. Those randomized to UC received $50 but no MBSR training or CBT as part of the study and were free to seek whatever treatment, if any, they desired.

The interventions were comparable in format (group), duration (2 hours/week for 8 weeks, although the MBSR program also included an optional 6-hour retreat), frequency (weekly), and number of participants per group [See reference 15 for intervention details]. Each intervention was delivered according to a manualized protocol in which all instructors were trained. Participants in both interventions were given workbooks, audio CDs, and instructions for home practice (e.g., meditation, body scan, and yoga in MBSR; relaxation and imagery in CBT). MBSR was delivered by 8 instructors with 5 to 29 years of MBSR experience. Six of the instructors had received training from the Center for Mindfulness at the University of Massachusetts Medical School. CBT was delivered by 4 licensed Ph.D.-level psychologists experienced in group and individual CBT for chronic pain. Checklists of treatment protocol components were completed by a research assistant at each session and reviewed weekly by a study investigator to ensure all treatment components were delivered. In addition, sessions were audio-recorded and a study investigator monitored instructors� adherence to the protocol in person or via audio-recording for at least one session per group.

MBSR was modelled closely after the original MBSR program [9], with adaptation of the 2009 MBSR instructor�s manual [18] by a senior MBSR instructor. The MBSR program does not focus specifically on a particular condition such as pain. All classes included didactic content and mindfulness practice (body scan, yoga, meditation [attention to thoughts, emotions, and sensations in the present moment without trying to change them, sitting meditation with awareness of breathing, walking meditation]). The CBT protocol included CBT techniques most commonly applied and studied for CLBP [8, 19�22]. The intervention included (1) education about chronic pain, relationships between thoughts and emotional and physical reactions, sleep hygiene, relapse prevention, and maintenance of gains; and (2) instruction and practice in changing dysfunctional thoughts, setting and working towards behavioral goals, relaxation skills (abdominal breathing, progressive muscle relaxation, guided imagery), activity pacing, and pain coping strategies. Between-session activities included reading chapters of The Pain Survival Guide [21]. Mindfulness, meditation, and yoga techniques were proscribed in CBT; methods to challenge dysfunctional thoughts were proscribed in MBSR.

Follow-Up

Trained interviewers masked to treatment group collected data by telephone at baseline (before randomization) and 4 (mid-treatment), 8 (post-treatment), 26 (primary endpoint), and 52 weeks post-randomization. Participants were compensated $20 for each interview.

Measures

Sociodemographic and back pain information was obtained at baseline (Table 1). All primary outcome measures were administered at each time-point; secondary outcomes were assessed at all time-points except 4 weeks.

Table 1: Baseline characteristics of participants by treatment group.

Co�primary Outcomes

Back pain-related functional limitation was assessed by the RDQ [16], modified to 23 (versus the original 24) items and to ask about the past week rather than today only. Higher scores (range 0�23) indicate greater functional limitation. The original RDQ has demonstrated reliability, validity, and sensitivity to clinical change [23]. Back pain bothersomeness in the past week was measured by a 0�10 scale (0 = �not at all bothersome,� 10 = �extremely bothersome�). Our primary analyses examined the percentages of participants with clinically meaningful improvement (?30% improvement from baseline) [24] on each measure. Secondary analyses compared the adjusted mean change from baseline between groups.

Secondary Outcomes

Depressive symptoms were assessed by the Patient Health Questionnaire-8 (PHQ-8; range, 0�24; higher scores indicate greater severity) [25]. Anxiety was measured using the 2-item Generalized Anxiety Disorder scale (GAD-2; range, 0�6; higher scores indicate greater severity) [26]. Characteristic pain intensity was assessed as the mean of three 0�10 ratings (current back pain and worst and average back pain in the previous month; range, 0�10; higher scores indicate greater intensity) from the Graded Chronic Pain Scale [27]. The Patient Global Impression of Change scale [28] asked participants to rate their improvement in pain on a 7-point scale (�completely gone, much better, somewhat better, a little better, about the same, a little worse, and much worse�). Physical and mental general health status were assessed with the 12-item Short-Form Health Survey (SF-12) (0�100 scale; lower scores indicate poorer health status) [29]. Participants were also asked about their use of medications and exercise for back pain during the previous week.

Adverse Experiences

Adverse experiences were identified during intervention sessions and by follow-up interview questions about significant discomfort, pain, or harm caused by the intervention.

Sample Size

A sample size of 264 participants (88 in each group) was chosen to provide adequate power to detect meaningful differences between MBSR and CBT and UC at 26 weeks. Sample size calculations were based on the outcome of clinically meaningful improvement (?30% from baseline) on the RDQ [24]. Estimates of clinically meaningful improvement in the intervention and UC groups were based on unpublished analyses of data from our previous trial of massage for CLBP in a similar population [30]. This sample size provided adequate power for both co-primary outcomes. The planned sample size provided 90% power to detect a 25% difference between MBSR and UC in the proportion with meaningful improvement on the RDQ, and ?80% power to detect a 20% difference between MBSR and CBT, assuming 30% of UC participants and 55% of CBT participants showed meaningful improvement. For meaningful improvement in pain bothersomeness, the planned sample size provided ?80% power to detect a 21.8% difference between MBSR and UC, and a 16.7% difference between MBSR and CBT, assuming 47.5% in UC and 69.3% in CBT showed meaningful improvement.

Allowing for an 11% loss to follow-up, we planned to recruit 297 participants (99 per group). Because observed follow-up rates were lower than expected, an additional wave was recruited. A total of 342 participants were randomized to achieve a target sample size of 264 with complete outcome data at 26 weeks.

Statistical Analysis

Following the pre-specified analysis plan [15], differences among the three groups on each primary outcome were assessed by fitting a regression model that included outcome measures from all four time-points after baseline (4, 8, 26, and 52 weeks). A separate model was fit for each co-primary outcome (RDQ and bothersomeness). Indicators for time-point, randomization group, and the interactions between these variables were included in each model to estimate intervention effects at each time-point. Models were fit using generalized estimating equations (GEE) [31], which accounted for possible correlation within individuals. For binary primary outcomes, we used a modified Poisson regression model with a log link and robust sandwich variance estimator [32] to estimate relative risks. For continuous measures, we used linear regression models to estimate mean change from baseline. Models adjusted for age, sex, education, pain duration (<1 year versus ?1 year since experiencing a week without back pain), and the baseline score on the outcome measure. Evaluation of secondary outcomes followed a similar analytic approach, although models did not include 4-week scores because secondary outcomes were not assessed at 4 weeks.

We evaluated the statistical significance of intervention effects at each time-point separately. We decided a priori to consider MBSR successful only if group differences were significant at the 26-week primary endpoint. To protect against multiple comparisons, we used the Fisher protected least-significant difference approach [33], which requires that pairwise treatment comparisons are made only if the overall omnibus test is statistically significant.

Because our observed follow-up rates differed across intervention groups and were lower than anticipated (Figure 1), we used an imputation method for non-ignorable nonresponse as our primary analysis to account for possible non-response bias. The imputation method used a pattern mixture model framework using a 2-step GEE approach [34]. The first step estimated the GEE model previously outlined with observed outcome data adjusting for covariates, but further adjusting for patterns of non-response. We included the following missing pattern indicator variables: missing one outcome, missing one outcome and assigned CBT, missing one outcome and assigned MBSR, and missing ?2 outcomes (no further interaction with group was included because very few UC participants missed ?2 follow-up time-points). The second step estimated the GEE model previously outlined, but included imputed outcomes from step 1 for those with missing follow-up times. We adjusted the variance estimates to account for using imputed outcome measures for unobserved outcomes.

All analyses followed an intention-to-treat approach. Participants were included in the analysis by randomization assignment, regardless of level of intervention participation. All tests and confidence intervals were 2-sided and statistical significance was defined as a P-value ? 0.05. All analyses were performed using the statistical package R version 3.0.2 [17].

Results

Figure 1 depicts participant flow through the study. Among 1,767 individuals expressing interest in study participation and screened for eligibility, 342 were enrolled and randomized. The main reasons for exclusion were inability to attend treatment sessions, pain lasting <3 months, and minimal pain bothersomeness or interference with activities. All but 7 participants were recruited from GH. Almost 90% of participants randomized to MBSR and CBT attended at least 1 session, but only 51% in MBSR and 57% in CBT attended at least 6 sessions. Only 26% of those randomized to MBSR attended the 6-hour retreat. Overall follow-up response rates ranged from 89.2% at 4 weeks to 84.8% at 52 weeks, and were higher in the UC group.

At baseline, treatment groups were similar in sociodemographic and pain characteristics except for more women in UC and fewer college graduates in MBSR (Table 1). Over 75% reported at least one year since a week without back pain and most reported pain on at least 160 of the previous 180 days. The mean RDQ score (11.4) and pain bothersomeness rating (6.0) indicated moderate levels of severity. Eleven percent reported using opioids for their pain in the past week. Seventeen percent had at least moderate levels of depression (PHQ-8 scores ?10) and 18% had at least moderate levels of anxiety (GAD-2 scores ?3).

Co-Primary Outcomes

At the 26-week primary endpoint, the groups differed significantly (P = 0.04) in percent with clinically meaningful improvement on the RDQ (MBSR 61%, UC 44%, CBT 58%; Table 2a). Participants randomized to MBSR were more likely than those randomized to UC to show meaningful improvement on the RDQ (RR = 1.37; 95% CI, 1.06�1.77), but did not differ significantly from those randomized to CBT. The overall difference among groups in clinically meaningful improvement in pain bothersomeness at 26 weeks was also statistically significant (MBSR 44%, UC 27%, CBT 45%; P = 0.01). Participants randomized to MBSR were more likely to show meaningful improvement when compared with UC (RR = 1.64; 95% CI, 1.15�2.34), but not when compared with CBT (RR = 1.03; 95% CI, 0.78�1.36). The significant differences between MBSR and UC, and non-significant differences between MBSR and CBT, in percent with meaningful function and pain improvement persisted at 52 weeks, with relative risks similar to those at 26 weeks (Table 2a). CBT was superior to UC for both primary outcomes at 26, but not 52, weeks. Treatment effects were not apparent before end of treatment (8 weeks). Generally similar results were found when the primary outcomes were analyzed as continuous variables, although more differences were statistically significant at 8 weeks and the CBT group improved more than the UC group at 52 weeks (Table 2b).

Table 2A: Co-primary outcomes: Percentage of participants with clinically meaningful improvement in chronic low back pain by treatment group and relative risks comparing treatment groups (Adjusted Imputed Analyses).

Table 2B: Co-primary outcomes: Mean (95% CI) change in chronic low back pain by treatment group and mean (95% CI) differences between treatment groups (Adjusted Imputed Analyses).

Secondary Outcomes

Mental health outcomes (depression, anxiety, SF-12 Mental Component) differed significantly across groups at 8 and 26, but not 52, weeks (Table 3). Among these measures and time-points, participants randomized to MBSR improved more than those randomized to UC only on the depression and SF-12 Mental Component measures at 8 weeks. Participants randomized to CBT improved more than those randomized to MBSR on depression at 8 weeks and anxiety at 26 weeks, and more than the UC group at 8 and 26 weeks on all three measures.

Table 3: Secondary outcomes by treatment group and between-group comparisons (Adjusted Imputed Analyses).

The groups differed significantly in improvement in characteristic pain intensity at all three time-points, with greater improvement in MBSR and CBT than in UC and no significant difference between MBSR and CBT. No overall differences in treatment effects were observed for the SF-12 Physical Component score or self-reported use of medications for back pain. Groups differed at 26 and 52 weeks in self-reported global improvement, with both the MBSR and CBT groups reporting greater improvement than the UC group, but not differing significantly from each other.

Adverse Experiences

Thirty of the 103 (29%) participants attending at least 1 MBSR session reported an adverse experience (mostly temporarily increased pain with yoga). Ten of the 100 (10%) participants who attended at least one CBT session reported an adverse experience (mostly temporarily increased pain with progressive muscle relaxation). No serious adverse events were reported.

Dr Jimenez White Coat

Dr. Alex Jimenez’s Insight

Stress management treatment includes a combination of stress management methods and techniques as well as lifestyle changes to help improve and manage stress and its associated symptoms. Because every person responds to stress in a wide variety of ways, treatment for stress will often vary greatly depending on the specific symptoms the individual is experiencing and according to their grade of severity. Chiropractic care is an effective stress management treatment which helps reduce chronic stress and its associated symptoms by reducing pain and muscle tension on the structures surrounding the spine. A spinal misalignment, or subluxation, can create stress and other symptoms, such as low back pain and sciatica. Furthermore, the results of the article above demonstrated that mindfulness-based stress reduction, or MBSR, is an effective stress management treatment for adults with chronic low back pain.

Discussion

Among adults with CLBP, both MBSR and CBT resulted in greater improvement in back pain and functional limitations at 26 and 52 weeks, as compared with UC. There were no meaningful differences in outcomes between MBSR and CBT. The effects were moderate in size, which has been typical of evidence-based treatments recommended for CLBP [4]. These benefits are remarkable given that only 51% of those randomized to MBSR and 57% of those randomized to CBT attended ?6 of the 8 sessions.

Our findings are consistent with the conclusions of a 2011 systematic review [35] that �acceptance-based� interventions such as MBSR have beneficial effects on the physical and mental health of patients with chronic pain, comparable to those of CBT. They are only partially consistent with the only other large RCT of MBSR for CLBP [13], which found that MBSR, as compared with a time- and attention-matched health education control group, provided benefits for function at post-treatment (but not at 6-month follow-up) and for average pain at 6-month follow-up (but not post-treatment). Several differences between our trial and theirs (which was limited to adults ?65 years and had a different comparison condition) could be responsible for differences in findings.

Although our trial lacked a condition controlling for nonspecific effects of instructor attention and group participation, CBT and MBSR have been shown to be more effective than control and active interventions for pain conditions. In addition to the trial of older adults with CLBP [14] that found MBSR to be more effective than a health education control condition, a recent systematic review of CBT for nonspecific low back pain found CBT to be more effective than guideline-based active treatments in improving pain and disability at short- and long-term follow-ups [7]. Further research is needed to identify moderators and mediators of the effects of MBSR on function and pain, evaluate benefits of MBSR beyond one year, and determine its cost-effectiveness. Research is also needed to identify reasons for session non-attendance and ways to increase attendance, and to determine the minimum number of sessions required.

Our finding of increased effectiveness of MBSR at 26�52 weeks relative to post-treatment for both primary outcomes contrasts with findings of our previous studies of acupuncture, massage, and yoga conducted in the same population as the current trial [30, 36, 37]. In those studies, treatment effects decreased between the end of treatment (8 to 12 weeks) and long-term follow-up (26 to 52 weeks). Long-lasting effects of CBT for CLBP have been reported [7, 38, 39]. This suggests that mind-body treatments such as MBSR and CBT may provide patients with long-lasting skills effective for managing pain.

There were more differences between CBT and UC than between MBSR and UC on measures of psychological distress. CBT was superior to MBSR on the depression measure at 8 weeks, but the mean difference between groups was small. Because our sample was not very distressed at baseline, further research is needed to compare MBSR to CBT in a more distressed patient population.

Limitations of this study must be acknowledged. Study participants were enrolled in a single healthcare system and generally highly educated. The generalizability of findings to other settings and populations is unknown. About 20% of participants randomized to MBSR and CBT were lost to follow-up. We attempted to correct for bias from missing data in our analyses by using imputation methods. Finally, the generalizability of our findings to CBT delivered in an individual rather than group format is unknown; CBT may be more effective when delivered individually [40]. Study strengths include a large sample with adequate statistical power to detect clinically meaningful effects, close matching of the MBSR and CBT interventions in format, and long-term follow-up.

Conclusions

Acknowledgments

Funding/Support: Research reported in this publication was supported by the National Center for Complementary & Integrative Health of the National Institutes of Health under Award Number R01AT006226. The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the National Institutes of Health.

Role of sponsor: The study funder had no role in the design and conduct of the study; collection, management, analysis, and interpretation of the data; preparation, review, or approval of the manuscript; or decision to submit the manuscript for publication.

Footnotes

Ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4914381/

Contributor Information

Daniel C. Cherkin, Group Health Research Institute; Departments of Health Services and Family Medicine, University of Washington.
Karen J. Sherman, Group Health Research Institute; Department of Epidemiology, University of Washington.
Benjamin H. Balderson, Group Health Research Institute, University of Washington.
Andrea J. Cook, Group Health Research Institute; Department of Biostatistics, University of Washington.
Melissa L. Anderson, Group Health Research Institute, University of Washington.
Rene J. Hawkes, Group Health Research Institute, University of Washington.
Kelly E. Hansen, Group Health Research Institute, University of Washington.
Judith A. Turner, Departments of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences and Rehabilitation Medicine, University of Washington.

In conclusion,�chiropractic care is recognized as an effective stress management treatment for low back pain and sciatica. Because chronic stress can cause a variety of health issues over time, improving as well as managing stress accordingly is essential towards achieving overall health and wellness. Additionally, as demonstrated in the article above comparing the effects of mindfulness-based stress reduction with cognitive-behavioral therapy and usual care for stress with associated chronic low back pain, mindfulness-based stress reduction, or MBSR, is effective as a stress management treatment. Information referenced from the National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI). The scope of our information is limited to chiropractic as well as to spinal injuries and conditions. To discuss the subject matter, please feel free to ask Dr. Jimenez or contact us at 915-850-0900 .

Curated by Dr. Alex Jimenez

Additional Topics: Back Pain

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EXTRA IMPORTANT TOPIC: Managing Workplace Stress

MORE IMPORTANT TOPICS: EXTRA EXTRA: Choosing Chiropractic? | Familia Dominguez | Patients | El Paso, TX Chiropractor

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Mindfulness Interventions in Chronic Pain Treatment in El Paso, TX

by spinedoctors | Chiropractic, Chronic Pain, Physical Rehabilitation, Stress, Treatments

Stress has become a new standard in today’s society, however, a huge proportion of the United States population has experienced a significant impact on their health due to the stress in their lives. Approximately 77 percent of Americans claim they suffer stress related physical ailments on a regular basis. Also, 73 percent report experiencing stress related emotional symptoms, such as anxiety and depression. Stress management methods and techniques, including chiropractic and mindfulness interventions, are a valuable treatment option for a variety of diseases. Before addressing the symptoms associated with stress, its essential to first understand what stress is, what are the signs and symptoms of stress, and how can stress impact health.

What is Stress?

Stress is a condition of emotional or mental pressure which result from issues, adverse scenarios, or exceptionally demanding circumstances. However, the nature of stress by definition makes it rather subjective. A stressful situation to one person may not be considered stressful to another. This makes it challenging to come up with a universal definition. Stress is much more often used to refer to its symptoms and those symptoms can be as varied as the men and women who experience them.

What are the Signs and Symptoms of Stress?

The signs and symptoms of stress can impact the whole body, both physically and emotionally. Common signs and symptoms of stress include:

Sleep problems
Depression
Anxiety
Muscle tension
Lower back pain
Gastrointestinal problems
Fatigue
Lack of motivation
Irritability
Headache
Restlessness
Chest pain
Feelings of being overwhelmed
Decrease or increase in sex drive
Inability to focus
Undereating or overeating

How can Stress Impact Health?

People can experience different signs and symptoms of stress. Stress itself doesn’t directly impact an individual’s health. Instead, it is a combination of the signs and symptoms of stress as well how the person handles those that adversely impact health.

Ultimately, stress may result in some very serious ailments including: heart disease, hypertension, diabetes, obesity, and even certain cancers. Psychologically, stress can lead to social withdrawal and social phobias. It is also often directly linked to alcohol and drug abuse.

Chiropractic for Stress Management

Mindfulness interventions are common stress management methods and techniques which can help reduce the signs and symptoms of stress. According to several research studies, however, chiropractic care is an effective stress management treatment option, which together with mindfulness interventions, could help improve as well as manage stress.�Because the spine is the root of the nervous system, the health of your spine can determine how you will feel each day, both physically and emotionally. Chiropractic can help restore the balance of the body, aligning the spine, and decreasing pain.

A subluxation, or misalignment of the spine, can interfere with the way the nervous system communicates with the different parts of the body. This can lead to increased signs and symptoms of stress. A subluxation may also result in chronic pain, such as headaches, neck pain or back pain. The stress of a misalignment of the spine can aggravate the signs and symptoms of stress and make a person more susceptible to stress.�Correcting the alignment of the spine can help ease stress.

Regular chiropractic care can help effectively manage stress. Through the use of spinal adjustments and manual manipulations, a chiropractor can gently realign the spine, releasing the pressure being placed on the spinal vertebrae as well as reducing the muscle tension surrounding the spine. Furthermore, a balanced spine also helps boost the immune system, promotes better sleeping habits and helps to improve circulation, all of which are essential towards reducing stress. Finally, chiropractic care can “turn off” the flight or fight response which is commonly associated with stress, allowing the entire body to rest and heal.

Stress should not be ignored. The signs and symptoms of stress aren’t very likely to go away on their own. The purpose of the following article is to demonstrate an evidence-based review on the use of stress management methods and techniques along with mindfulness interventions in chronic pain treatment as well as to discuss the effects of these treatment options towards improving overall health and wellness. Chiropractic, physical rehabilitation and mindfulness interventions are fundamental stress management methods and/or techniques recommended for the improvement and management of stress.

Mindfulness Interventions in Physical Rehabilitation: A Scoping Review

Abstract

A scoping review was conducted to describe how mindfulness is used in physical rehabilitation, identify implications for occupational therapy practice, and guide future research on clinical mindfulness interventions. A systematic search of four literature databases produced 1,524 original abstracts, of which 16 articles were included. Although only 3 Level I or II studies were identified, the literature included suggests that mindfulness interventions are helpful for patients with musculoskeletal and chronic pain disorders and demonstrate trends toward outcome improvements for patients with neurocognitive and neuromotor disorders. Only 2 studies included an occupational therapist as the primary mindfulness provider, but all mindfulness interventions in the selected studies fit within the occupational therapy scope of practice according to the American Occupational Therapy Association�s Occupational Therapy Practice Framework: Domain and Process. Higher-level research is needed to evaluate the effects of mindfulness interventions in physical rehabilitation and to determine best practices for the use of mindfulness by occupational therapy practitioners.

MeSH TERMS: complementary therapies, mindfulness, occupational therapy, rehabilitation, therapeutics

Mindfulness interventions are frequently used in health care to assist patients in managing pain, stress, and anxiety and in targeting additional health, wellness, and quality-of-life outcomes. Although mindfulness practices originate from Buddhism, mindfulness interventions have become largely secular and are based on the philosophy that full and nonjudgmental experience of the present moment creates positive outcomes for mental and physical health (Williams & Kabat-Zinn, 2011). This paradigm assumes that many people experience a high volume of future- or past-focused thoughts that produce anxiety. Hence, mindfulness is the practice of refocusing away from these distractions and toward lived experiences.

The prevalence of mindfulness interventions in health care has grown substantially in recent decades, and several types of mindfulness interventions have emerged. The first and most widely recognized mindfulness intervention is mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR; Kabat-Zinn, 1982). Initially called the stress reduction and relaxation program, MBSR was developed more than 30 years ago for patients with chronic pain and involves guided sitting meditation, mindful movement, and education on the effect of stress and anxiety on health and wellness. The evidence supporting mindfulness interventions in health care has grown since the inception of MBSR, and modern mindfulness interventions are shown to be effective at reducing pain severity (Reiner, Tibi, & Lipsitz, 2013), reducing anxiety (Shennan, Payne, & Fenlon, 2011), and enhancing well-being (Chiesa & Serretti, 2009).

Mindfulness-based interventions fit well with the strong emphasis on holism within occupational therapy practice (Dale et al., 2002). Specifically, valuing the mind�body whole is a core tenet that distinguishes occupational therapy practitioners from other health care providers (Bing, 1981; Kielhofner, 1995; Wood, 1998). Emerging literature suggests that mindfulness may enhance occupational engagement and be related to flow state (i.e., a state of timelessness within optimal experiences of activity engagement; Elliot, 2011; Reid, 2011). Mindfulness is both the meditative practice, which is an occupation itself, and a means to enhance the experience of occupations (Elliot, 2011). Moreover, a parallel exists between mindfulness practices and the occupational process of doing, being, and becoming (Stroh-Gingrich, 2012; Wilcock, 1999).

Mindfulness-based interventions in health care continue to grow in scope with the description of novel protocols, application of mindfulness to new populations, and targeting of diverse symptoms. The majority of current mindfulness literature focuses on helping people with mental health conditions and improving wellness in people, providing a wealth of evidence for occupational therapy practitioners who work in mental health or health promotion. However, the applicability and effect of mindfulness interventions for clients in rehabilitation for physical dysfunction are not as well established. Current literature that links mindfulness and occupational therapy is largely theoretical, and a translation to practice-based settings has yet to be fully explored. Therefore, the purpose of this review was to describe how mindfulness is currently used in physical rehabilitation, identify the potential applications of mindfulness interventions to occupational therapy practice, and illuminate gaps in knowledge to be explored in future research.

Method

Scoping reviews are rigorous review processes used to present the landscape of the literature on a broad topic, identify gaps in knowledge, and draw implications for further research and clinical application (Arksey & O�Malley, 2005). This type of review differs from a systematic review because it is not intended to answer questions about the efficacy of an intervention or provide specific recommendations for best practice. A scoping review is typically done in place of a systematic review when high-quality literature for a given topic is limited. Although the purpose and outcome of a scoping review differ from those of a systematic review, a systematic process is involved to ensure rigor and minimize bias (Arksey & O�Malley, 2005). A description of the methods used in this study for each of the systematic steps follows.

The question that guided this scoping review was, How is mindfulness being used in physical rehabilitation, and what are the implications for occupational therapy practice and research? Because the purpose of this review was to provide an overview of available literature, an exhaustive search using terms for all potential interventions or diagnoses was not used. Instead, we elected to combine the general key word mindfulness with each of the following major medical subheadings: therapeutics, rehabilitation, and alternative medicine. Searches were conducted in PubMed, CINAHL, SPORTDiscus, and PsycINFO and were limited to articles published in English before October 10, 2014 (i.e., the date the search was conducted). No additional limits were set, and no restrictions were placed on minimum level of evidence or study design.

Abstracts from the searches were compiled, duplicates were eliminated, and two reviewers independently screened all original abstracts. Initial inclusion criteria for abstract screening were a description of a mindfulness intervention, relevance to occupational therapy, and targeting of a disorder addressed in physical rehabilitation. A broad definition of mindfulness intervention was adopted to include any meditative practice, psychological or psychosocial intervention, or other mind�body therapeutic practice that directly mentioned or addressed mindfulness. Abstracts were considered relevant to occupational therapy if the diagnosis being evaluated was within the occupational therapy scope of practice. Disorder addressed in physical rehabilitation was defined as any illness, injury, or disability of the neurological, musculoskeletal, or other body system that could be treated within a medical or rehabilitation setting.

Any abstract identified as relevant by either author was brought to the full-text stage. In large part, these studies were conducted by scientists, psychologists, psychiatrists, or other medical doctors. Additionally, the interventions were often not implemented in settings where physical rehabilitation providers work. Therefore, to most appropriately answer the research question, final inclusion required that the study focus on an applied use of mindfulness in a rehabilitation context. This additional criterion was satisfied if the mindfulness intervention was provided by a rehabilitation professional (e.g., occupational therapist, physical therapist, speech therapist), was an addition or alternative to traditional rehabilitation, or was provided after traditional rehabilitation had failed. The two authors independently reviewed the full texts, and final study inclusion required agreement by both authors. Any disagreement on study selection was settled by deliberation ending in consensus.

For reporting, studies were primarily organized by type of physical disorder being targeted and secondarily sorted and described by type of mindfulness intervention and level of evidence. These data were summarized and are provided in the Results section to answer the first portion of the research question, that is, to describe how mindfulness is being used in physical rehabilitation. The interventions were compared with the �Types of Occupational Therapy Interventions� categories within the Occupational Therapy Practice Framework: Domain and Process (American Occupational Therapy Association [AOTA], 2014) to determine how occupational therapy practitioners might use the interventions in clinical practice. Multiple conversations and coediting of this article between the two authors resulted in the final description of implications for occupational therapy practice and research.

Results

Results of the systematic search and review process are shown in Figure 1. The searches produced a total of 1,967 abstracts across the four databases. After 443 duplicates were removed, 1,524 original abstracts were screened, and 188 full texts were evaluated for inclusion. Exclusion at the abstract review phase was largely the result of diagnoses or interventions outside the occupational therapy scope (e.g., therapy for tinnitus) or interventions not targeting a physical disorder (e.g., anxiety disorder). At the study selection stage, full-text articles were excluded if they failed to describe an applied use of mindfulness within a rehabilitation context (n = 82) or failed to meet other initial inclusion criteria (n = 90). Sixteen studies met all criteria and were included in the data extraction and synthesis.

Figure 1: Search and inclusion flow diagram.

As shown in Table 1, 14 studies used experimental or quasi-experimental designs, including pretest�posttest (n = 6), multiple case series (n = 4), randomized trials (n = 2), retrospective cohort (n = 1), and a nonrandomized comparative trial (n = 1). Two expert opinion articles were also included because both added anecdotal evidence for the applied use of mindfulness in physical rehabilitation practice settings. Five of the 16 studies reported the involvement of occupational therapists on the study team, but only 2 of these studies specified that an occupational therapist provided the mindfulness intervention. The remaining 11 studies provided mindfulness interventions to participants either in conjunction with rehabilitation interventions not described as part of the study or after rehabilitation had failed. Mindfulness interventions included MBSR (n = 6), general mindfulness and meditation (n = 5), acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT; n = 2), and other study-specific techniques (n = 3). Physical disorders targeted by mindfulness interventions in the included studies were primarily categorized as musculoskeletal and pain disorders (n = 8), neurocognitive and neuromotor disorders (n = 6), or disorders of other body systems (n = 2).

Table 1: Summary of research on mindfulness interventions for people with musculoskeletal and pain disorders, neurocognitive and neuromotor disorders, and other disorders.

Common Mindfulness Interventions

Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction. As referenced in Table 1, 3 studies used MBSR, each with an emphasis on meditation provided in a 2-hr group session, once a week for 8 wk. Three additional studies used an adapted MBSR protocol to meet the needs of the target population. Common adaptations of the MBSR protocol were to change the number of weeks the MBSR group met (Azulay, Smart, Mott, & Cicerone, 2013; B�dard et al., 2003, 2005) as well as to reduce the group size and session length (Azulay et al., 2013). The primary goal of MBSR and MBSR-based programs was to enhance trait-level mindfulness within the participants. Sessions included body scans (i.e., bringing attention to various parts of the body and the sensations felt), mindful yoga, guided mindful meditation, or education about stress and health. One or two people with intensive training in MBSR and who were practitioners of mindfulness themselves always facilitated MSBR sessions. Participants were expected to use recordings to meditate at home on a daily basis. Studies that implemented MBSR used it as a primary intervention to enhance mindfulness through mindfulness practices that patients were expected to integrate into their daily lives. This approach cast mindfulness as a new meaningful occupation for participants facilitated by the intervention. Therefore, the description and use of MBSR in these studies match with occupations and activities, education and training, and group interventions within occupational therapy practice (AOTA, 2014).

General Mindfulness. Five studies applied mindfulness principles generally, failed to fully describe the mindfulness portion of their intervention, or used mindfulness components (e.g., body scan only or guided meditation only) within a comprehensive rehabilitation intervention (see Table 1). Interventions varied widely between group or individual formats, in duration and frequency of sessions, and in duration of the full course of treatment. General mindfulness techniques were used as an opening to, as a closing to, or in parallel with traditional rehabilitation treatments. Therefore, the application of mindfulness was individually targeted to meet the specific needs and goals of clients. Examples of these goals included occupational engagement, engagement in therapy, reduced anxiety, awareness of bodily sensations, and nonjudgmental attitude. Given the holistic targets, general mindfulness interventions as used in these studies would be described as activities, education, or preparatory methods and tasks (AOTA, 2014).

Acceptance and Commitment Therapy. ACT is a psychological intervention stemming from clinical behavioral analysis and mindfulness principles. Two studies implemented ACT with different strategies. In 1 study (McCracken & Guti�rrez-Mart�nez, 2011), an intensive intervention was provided to participants in a group setting, 5 days per week, 6 hr per day, over a 4-wk interval. The other study (Mahoney & Hanrahan, 2011) integrated ACT as part of individual routine physical therapy interventions. In both studies, the primary goals of ACT were to improve psychological flexibility and engagement in therapy through pain acceptance and buffering of other psychological experiences. Similar to the integrative use previously described for general mindfulness, ACT was also used in these studies as activities, education, or preparatory methods and tasks (AOTA, 2014).

Targets of Mindfulness Interventions

Musculoskeletal and Pain Disorders. Musculoskeletal and pain disorders targeted by mindfulness interventions included chronic musculoskeletal pain (n = 6), work-related musculoskeletal injury (n = 1), and knee surgery (n = 1). Five of the 6 studies using mindfulness for chronic pain were experimental. In 3 of these studies, a significant reduction in pain severity was found after participation in mindfulness interventions (Kabat-Zinn, Lipworth, & Burney, 1985; McCracken & Guti�rrez-Mart�nez, 2011; Zangi et al., 2012). One randomized trial contrasted with the other studies; Wong et al. (2011) found that pain was reduced over time, but the amount of pain reduction was not significantly different between clients receiving the mindfulness intervention and a control group. The fifth experimental study (Kristj�nsd�ttir et al., 2011) piloted a mindfulness intervention by using a mobile phone application. This study�s sample size was not large enough to evaluate a significant change in the outcome measures; however, the participants reported that the mobile mindfulness intervention was helpful and appropriate for treating their symptoms. Although these studies demonstrated varied results in reducing pain severity, secondary outcomes such as increased acceptance of pain, improved functioning with pain, and decreased distress produced larger effect sizes and were consistently significant.

A retrospective study (Vindholmen, H�igaard, Espnes, & Seiler, 2014) sought to predict treatment outcomes based on the trait-level mindfulness of patients at a vocational rehabilitation center receiving therapeutic interventions for work-related musculoskeletal disorders. The observational facet of trait-level mindfulness was found to significantly predict time until return to work, but only for highly educated patients. The authors noted that mindfulness interventions may moderate quality of life, which was a significant predictor of time until return to work for all participants.

Two studies, 1 with Level IV (i.e., case series; Mahoney & Hanrahan, 2012) and 1 with Level V (i.e., expert opinion; Pike, 2008) evidence, suggested that combining traditional therapeutic rehabilitation interventions with mindfulness for patients with musculoskeletal and pain disorders has benefits. Clients receiving ACT integrated into their physical therapy sessions after knee surgery reported that the mindfulness intervention was helpful to their rehabilitation process and increased their engagement in therapy (Mahoney & Hanrahan, 2012). In his commentary, Pike (2008) argued for implementing mindfulness interventions in combination with physical therapy for patients who suffer from chronic pain, noting that mindfulness is similar to more widely used awareness-based interventions (e.g., Pilates). Similar to the positive reception noted by Mahoney and Hanrahan (2012), Pike noted that integrating mindfulness into his physical therapy practice had proven to be clinically useful and well tolerated by patients. He hypothesized that the mechanism of mindfulness interventions may either directly reduce pain or improve functional outcomes despite pain, concepts validated by the experimental studies previously discussed in this section.

Neurocognitive and Neuromotor Disorders. Studies using mindfulness interventions for people with neurocognitive and neuromotor disorders included participants with diagnoses of aphasia (n = 1), traumatic brain injury (TBI; n = 4), and developmental coordination disorder (n = 1). Orenstein, Basilakos, and Marshall (2012) found no change attributed to a mindfulness intervention on divided attention tasks or symptoms of aphasia when used with 3 clients. However, 3 pretest�posttest studies using mindfulness interventions for patients with TBI showed more promising results. Azulay et al. (2013) reported a trend (p = .07) toward improved cognitive functioning, with moderate effect sizes (d = 0.31 and 0.32). B�dard et al. (2003) found trends toward reduced symptom distress and improved physical health, with small to moderate effect sizes (0.296 < d < 0.32). They also demonstrated significant improvements in secondary measures such as self-efficacy, quality of life, and mental health. Moreover, a 12-mo postintervention follow-up of their 2003 study showed significant maintenance or improvement in patients with TBI across time in vitality, emotional role, and mental health, but fluctuating pain (B�dard et al., 2005). Of note is that although participants reported that they valued the mindfulness intervention, gender played a role in recruitment and retention because most young men either chose to not participate in or dropped out of the study (B�dard et al., 2005).

In Meili and Kabat-Zinn (2004), Meili, a woman who sustained a TBI, recounted that mindfulness was central to her journey of healing. Using Meili�s experience as an example, Kabat-Zinn asserted that helping patients understand, accept, and adjust to their illness or disability through both inner adjustment to new bodily experiences, or mindfulness, and external restoration of physical functioning, or physical rehabilitation, are essential to the healing process. Moreover, Kabat-Zinn stated that occupational therapy practitioners and other rehabilitation professionals are well equipped to implement mindfulness interventions because these interventions complement their existing practice of facilitating the outer work of healing the body. Adding mindfulness interventions would be clinically appropriate to foster the inner work necessary for patients to heal. Jackman (2014) also suggested that mindfulness is appropriate as part of the rehabilitative process. Jackman discussed the use of mindfulness in occupational therapy for children with developmental coordination disorder. Children who participated in mindfulness-enhanced therapy improved on at least one component of motor coordination. This therapy also helped parent�child dyads meet their self-directed goals.

Other Conditions. Two additional studies targeted physical diagnoses that were not explicitly musculoskeletal or neuromotor. In the first, MBSR was provided to women with urge-predominant urinary incontinence by an occupational therapist who had received intensive training in mindfulness (Baker, Costa, & Nygaard, 2012). Seven women who had an average of 4.14 episodes of urinary incontinence per day participated in an 8-wk MBSR group. In contrast to other studies that combined mindfulness with traditional rehabilitation, participants in this study received no other treatment or traditional interventions for urinary incontinence (e.g., pelvic floor muscle exercises, bladder education). At posttest, participants had significantly fewer episodes (p = .005), averaging 1.23 per day. Although limited by a small sample size and lack of a control group, this study demonstrated preliminary support for stand-alone mindfulness interventions provided by occupational therapists for a physical condition.

The second study used mindfulness-based cognitive therapy in the rehabilitation of vestibular dysfunction and dizziness (Naber et al., 2011). In this study, group-based mindfulness components were nested within standard vestibular rehabilitation practices, dialectical behavioral therapy, and cognitive�behavioral therapy over five biweekly sessions. In addition, participants met individually with a physical therapist who provided personalized exercises. Significant improvement in vestibular symptoms, including functional level, impairment, coping, and skill use (p < .0001), was noted.

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Dr. Alex Jimenez’s Insight

Mindfulness interventions, such as mindfulness-based stress reduction, general mindfulness and acceptance and commitment therapy, are prevalent stress management methods and techniques frequently used in health care to help�relieve symptoms of stress, mental health issues and physical pain as well as to address and treat a variety of symptoms and diseases. Mindfulness interventions are believed to increase the outcome measures of alternative and complementary treatment options. Chiropractic care is another popular stress management option which can help improve as well as manage stress. The use of mindfulness interventions and chiropractic care with other treatments, such as physical rehabilitation, has been determined to increase their results. The article above demonstrated evidence-based results on the effectiveness of mindfulness interventions for symptoms of stress, including chronic pain.

Discussion

This scoping review describes how mindfulness is used in physical rehabilitation, identifies implications for occupational therapy, and illuminates gaps in current research. The studies included in the review provide preliminary support that mindfulness interventions can improve urinary incontinence, chronic pain, and vestibular functioning. These studies also show a promising trend toward improved outcomes for cognitive and behavior targets for patients with TBI. Across the studies, the strongest findings were for improvements in adaptation to illness or disability such as self-efficacy for disease management, increased quality of life, and acceptance of pain symptoms. In addition, mindfulness interventions for these outcomes not only were immediately effective but also maintained effectiveness at follow-up at a clinically significant level. This result suggests that adaptation-based outcomes are an important complement to function- and symptom-based outcomes in clinical mindfulness research. Moreover, patient appraisals of mindfulness interventions were positive, and no studies reported adverse or negative effects.

Occupational therapists were the primary providers of mindfulness interventions in 2 studies (Baker et al., 2012; Jackman, 2014). Although these studies showed promising results, both were limited by small sample size and lack of control conditions. In addition, Jackman (2014) failed to report numeric values for the findings, limiting interpretation. In 3 additional studies, occupational therapists had an ancillary role in providing mindfulness interventions (McCracken & Guti�rrez-Mart�nez, 2011; Vindholmen et al., 2014; Zangi et al., 2012). However, because of the complementary nature of the interventions with the occupational therapy scope of practice (AOTA, 2014) and the manner in which they were implemented, occupational therapy practitioners could have been active providers of the mindfulness interventions in these studies, highlighting the feasibility of integrating mindfulness into occupational therapy practice in future research. Moreover, although MBSR was the primary intervention that promoted engagement in mindfulness as an occupation, general mindfulness interventions and ACT also served as appropriate activity-based, preparatory, and educational interventions in these studies. Given the results of these studies and support from additional literature describing the use of mindfulness by occupational therapists (Moll, Tryssenaar, Good, & Detwiler, 2013; Stroh-Gingrich, 2012), further investigation of best practices for integrating mindfulness techniques into physical rehabilitation is warranted.

Although the literature suggests that mindfulness interventions can have positive effects in physical rehabilitation, substantial limitations exist in the current evidence. First, the majority of the positive studies are limited by their study design, being, at best, Level III evidence (i.e., cohort design). In contrast, an appropriately powered randomized controlled trial found a significant pretest�posttest effect of mindfulness interventions on pain reduction but also noted a similar reduction in pain for control group participants (Wong et al., 2011). Second, the wide variability in mindfulness intervention protocols makes it challenging to reach any general conclusions about intervention effectiveness. Finally, many studies overrepresented middle-aged White women, limiting interpretation of the acceptability of mindfulness interventions by or their effects in other demographics. Specifically, B�dard et al. (2005) noted decreased interest and adherence to their mindfulness intervention by male participants.

More information is needed to understand best practices for integration of mindfulness into occupational therapy practice. Specifically, the mindfulness interventions included in this review were generally complex, used a standardized protocol, were not fully integrated with standard rehabilitation interventions, and required intensive training for providers. Thus, further investigation is needed to:

Establish the effectiveness of mindfulness interventions in various settings and patient populations with physical diagnoses in high-level, randomized trials;
Examine the utility of training methods for occupational therapy practitioners in the delivery of mindfulness interventions for physical disorders as part of professional curricula, through continuing education programs or other postprofessional training;
Describe best practices for clinical integration of mindfulness into occupational therapy practice; and
Explore the implications related to reimbursement for and cost-effectiveness of the delivery of mindfulness interventions in occupational therapy practice.

Implications for Occupational Therapy Practice

The results of this study have the following implications for occupational therapy practice:

Mindfulness in physical rehabilitation is primarily used to help clients with chronic pain and TBI adapt to illness and disability, which promotes functional recovery as complementary to symptom remediation.
Mindfulness for physical disorders has yet to be substantiated as an evidence-based intervention within occupational therapy; however, promising preliminary evidence exists, and current mindfulness protocols fit within the occupational therapy scope of practice as preparatory, activity, or occupation-based interventions.
Higher level research is needed to address the substantial limitations in current efficacy studies on mindfulness for physical conditions and to determine best practices for the use of mindfulness in physical rehabilitation by occupational therapy practitioners.

Acknowledgments

Many thanks for the support and guidance received from Dr. Gelya Frank. Work on this review was partially supported by Grant No. K12�HD055929, National Institute of Child Health and Human Development/National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke Rehabilitation Research Career Development Program. The contents of this article are solely the responsibility of the authors and do not necessarily represent the views of the National Institutes of Health. Portions of this work were presented at the 2015 Occupational Therapy Summit of Scholars in Los Angeles, CA.

Footnotes

Indicates studies that were included in the scoping review for this article.

Contributor Information

Ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4834757/

In conclusion,�although stress is common in today’s society, stress can lead to a variety of physical and emotional diseases. Stress management methods and techniques are growing as popular treatment options to treat stress and its associated ailments, including chronic pain. Chiropractic care helps reduce stress by correcting subluxations, or spinal misalignments, to release pressure on the vertebrae and reduce muscle tension. The article above also demonstrates the effectiveness of mindfulness interventions in physical rehabilitation, although further research studies are needed. Information referenced from the National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI). The scope of our information is limited to chiropractic as well as to spinal injuries and conditions. To discuss the subject matter, please feel free to ask Dr. Jimenez or contact us at 915-850-0900 .

Curated by Dr. Alex Jimenez

Additional Topics: Back Pain

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Stress Management Techniques for Chronic Pain in El Paso, TX

by spinedoctors | Chronic Pain, Conditions Treated, Randomized Controlled Trial, Treatments

In the modern world, it’s easy to find circumstances to stress about. Whether it involves work, financial issues, health emergencies, relationship problems, media stimulation and/or other factors, stress can begin to weigh in on our overall health and wellness if not managed properly. Also, we often tend to create stress ourselves through poor nutrition and a lack of sleep.

In fact, more than three-fourths of the population in the United States experiences stress on a regular basis, where one-third of those individuals characterize their stress levels as “extreme”. Although short-term stress can be helpful, long-term stress can lead to a variety of health issues. Stress has been considered the cause of so many diseases, healthcare professionals estimate it accounts for half of the country’s healthcare-related expenses, according to the U.S. News & World Report.

How Stress Affects the Body

Stress signals the sympathetic nervous system to trigger the “fight or flight” response, a defense mechanism which prepares the body for perceived danger by causing the heart rate, blood volume and blood pressure to rise. This diverts blood away from the digestive system and limbs. The adrenal glands also secrete a special mixture of hormones and chemicals, including adrenaline, epinephrine and norepinephrine, which could affect an individual’s well-being if they’re constantly being secreted into the body.

Also, chronic stress can cause muscle tension. Excess muscle tension along the neck and back may result in the misalignment of the spine, known as a subluxation, ultimately interfering with the proper function of the nervous system and causing symptoms of back pain and sciatica. Fortunately, a variety of stress management techniques, including chiropractic care and mindfulness meditation, can help reduce chronic pain, commonly associated with chronic stress.

Chiropractic Care for Stress

Chiropractic care is a well-known, alternative treatment option utilized to treat a variety of injuries and conditions associated with the musculoskeletal and nervous system.�Correcting spinal misalignments is the first step for reducing stress. If there is a subluxation in the spine, the nervous system may often not be able to properly send signals throughout the rest of the body. By using spinal adjustments and manual manipulations, a doctor of chiropractic can carefully realign the spine,�releasing muscle tension, soothing irritated spinal nerves and improving blood flow, changes which could will alert the brain to switch off the “fight or flight” response so that the body can return to a more relaxed state.

Furthermore, a chiropractor can also recommend lifestyle modifications, together with spinal adjustments and manual manipulations, to help reduce stress. Nutritional supplementation, rehabilitative exercises, deep-tissue massage, relaxation techniques and posture changes recommended by a chiropractor are several stress management techniques which can help improve symptoms of chronic pain associated with stress. The following article is a systematic review and meta-analysis demonstrating the use of mindfulness medication for chronic pain, including back pain and sciatica.

Mindfulness Meditation for Chronic Pain: Systematic Review and Meta-analysis

Abstract

Background: Chronic pain patients increasingly seek treatment through mindfulness meditation.
Purpose: This study aims to synthesize evidence on efficacy and safety of mindfulness meditation interventions for the treatment of chronic pain in adults.
Method: We conducted a systematic review on randomized controlled trials (RCTs) with meta-analyses using the Hartung-Knapp-Sidik-Jonkman method for random-effects models. Quality of evidence was assessed using the GRADE approach. Outcomes included pain, depression, quality of life, and analgesic use.
Results: Thirty-eight RCTs met inclusion criteria; seven reported on safety. We found low-quality evidence that mindfulness meditation is associated with a small decrease in pain compared with all types of controls in 30 RCTs. Statistically significant effects were also found for depression symptoms and quality of life.
Conclusions: While mindfulness meditation improves pain and depression symptoms and quality of life, additional well-designed, rigorous, and large-scale RCTs are needed to decisively provide estimates of the efficacy of mindfulness meditation for chronic pain.
Electronic supplementary material: The online version of this article (doi:10.1007/s12160-016-9844-2) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.
Keywords: Chronic pain, Mindfulness, Meditation, Systematic review

Introduction

Chronic pain, often defined as pain lasting longer than 3 months or past the normal time for tissue healing [1], can lead to significant medical, social, and economic consequences, relationship issues, lost productivity, and larger health care costs. The Institute of Medicine recognizes pain as a significant public health problem that costs our nation at least $560�635 billion annually, including costs of health care and lost productivity [2]. Further, chronic pain is frequently accompanied by psychiatric disorders such as pain medication addiction and depression that make treatment complicated [3]. The high prevalence and refractory nature of chronic pain, in conjunction with the negative consequences of pain medication dependence, has led to increased interest in treatment plans that include adjunctive therapy or alternatives to medication [4]. One such modality that pain patients are using is mindfulness meditation. Based on ancient Eastern meditation practices, mindfulness facilitates an attentional stance of detached observation. It is characterized by paying attention to the present moment with openness, curiosity, and acceptance [5, 6]. Mindfulness meditation is thought to work by refocusing the mind on the present and increasing awareness of one�s external surroundings and inner sensations, allowing the individual to step back and reframe experiences. Current research using neuroimaging to elucidate neurological mechanisms underlying effects of mindfulness has focused on brain structures such as the posterior cingulate cortex, which appear to be involved in self-referential processing [7, 8]. Clinical uses of mindfulness include applications in substance abuse [9], tobacco cessation [10], stress reduction [11], and treatment of chronic pain [12�14].

Early mindfulness studies in pain patients showed promising outcomes on pain symptoms, mood disturbance, anxiety, and depression, as well as pain-related drug utilization [5]. Numerous systematic reviews on the effects of mindfulness meditation have been published in recent years. Of those that report pain outcomes, several have focused on specific types of pain such as low back pain [13], fibromyalgia [15], or somatization disorder [16]. Others were not limited to RCTs [14, 17]. There have been several comprehensive reviews focused on controlled trials of mindfulness interventions for chronic pain including a review [4] that showed improvements in depressive symptoms and coping, another review [18] on mindfulness for chronic back pain, fibromyalgia, and musculoskeletal pain that showed small positive effects for pain, and the most recent review [19] on various pain conditions which found improvements in pain, pain acceptance, quality of life, and functional status. Authors of these reviews echoed concerns that there is limited evidence for efficacy of mindfulness-based interventions for patients with chronic pain because of methodological issues. They have concluded that additional high-quality research was needed before a recommendation for the use of mindfulness meditation for chronic pain symptoms could be made.

The purpose of this study was to conduct a systematic review and meta-analysis of the effects and safety of mindfulness meditation, as an adjunctive or monotherapy to treat individuals with chronic pain due to migraine, headache, back pain, osteoarthritis, or neuralgic pain compared with treatment as usual, waitlists, no treatment, or other active treatments. Pain was the primary outcome, and secondary outcomes included depression, quality of life, and analgesic use. The systematic review protocol is registered in an international registry for systematic reviews (PROSPERO 2015:CRD42015025052).

Methods

Search Strategy

We searched the electronic databases PubMed, Cumulative Index to Nursing and Allied Health Literature (CINAHL), PsycINFO, and Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials (CENTRAL) for English-language-randomized controlled trials from inception through June 2016. We combined pain conditions and design terms with the following mindfulness search terms: �Mindfulness� [Mesh]) or �Meditation� [Mesh] or mindfulness* or mindfulness-based or MBSR or MBCT or M-BCT or meditation or meditat* or Vipassana or satipa??h?na or anapanasati or Zen or Pranayama or Sudarshan or Kriya or zazen or shambhala or buddhis*.� In addition to this search and the reference mining of all included studies identified through it, we reference mined prior systematic reviews and retrieved all studies included therein.

Eligibility Criteria

Parallel group, individual or cluster RCTs of adults who report chronic pain were included. Studies where the author defined chronic pain and studies in patients reporting pain for a minimum of 3 months were included. Studies were required to involve mindfulness meditation, either as an adjunctive or monotherapy; studies testing other meditation interventions such as yoga, tai chi, qigong, and transcendental meditation techniques without reference to mindfulness were excluded. Mindfulness interventions that did not require formal meditation, such as acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT) were also excluded. Only studies that reported pain measures or change in analgesic use were included. Dissertations and conference abstracts were excluded.

Procedures

Two independent reviewers screened titles and abstracts of retrieved citations�following a pilot session to ensure similar interpretation of the inclusion and exclusion criteria. Citations judged as potentially eligible by one or both reviewers were obtained as full text. The full text publications were then dually screened against the specified inclusion criteria. The flow of citations throughout this process was documented in an electronic database, and reasons for exclusion of full-text publications were recorded. Data abstraction was also conducted in dual. Risk of bias was assessed using the Cochrane Risk of Bias tool [20]. Other biases related to the US Preventive Services Task Force�s (USPSTF) criteria for internal validity of included studies were assessed [21, 22]. These criteria were used to rate the quality of evidence as good, fair, or poor for each included study.

Meta-Analytic Techniques

When sufficient data were available and statistical heterogeneity was below agreed thresholds [20], we performed meta-analysis to pool efficacy results across included studies for the outcomes of interest and present a forest plot for the main meta-analysis. We used the Hartung-Knapp-Sidik-Jonkman method for random effects meta-analysis using unadjusted means and measures of dispersion [23�25]. For studies reporting multiple pain outcomes, we used specific pain measures, such as the McGill Pain Questionnaire (MPQ) for the main meta-analysis rather than the pain subscale of the SF-36, and average or general pain measures rather than situational measures such as pain at the time of assessment. Due to the small number of adverse events reported, quantitative analysis was not conducted. We conducted subgroup analyses and meta-regressions to address whether there were differences in effect sizes between different interventions types, populations, or when used as monotherapy versus an adjunctive therapy. The quality of the body of evidence was assessed using the GRADE approach [22, 26] by which a determination of high, moderate, low, or very low was made for each major outcome [27].

Results

Description of Included Studies

We identified 744 citations through searches of electronic databases and 11 additional records identified through other sources (see Figure 1). Full texts were obtained for 125 citations identified as potentially eligible by two independent reviewers; 38 RCTs met inclusion criteria. Details of study characteristics are displayed in Table ?1 and effects for individual studies are displayed in Table ?2.

Table 1: Characteristics of included studies.

Table 2: Effects for individual studies.

In total, studies assigned 3536 participants; sample sizes ranged from 19 to 342. Fifteen studies reported an a priori power calculation with targeted sample size achieved, ten studies did not report information about a power calculation, and three studies were unclear in the reporting of a power calculation. Ten studies noted there was insufficient power; the authors considered these pilot studies. The majority of the studies were conducted in North America or Europe. The mean age of participants ranged from 30 (SD, 9.08) to 78 years (SD, 7.1. Eight studies included only female participants.

Medical conditions reported included fibromyalgia in eight studies and back pain in eight studies. (Categories are not mutually exclusive; some studies included patients with different conditions.) Osteoarthritis was reported in two studies and rheumatoid arthritis in three. Migraine headache was reported in three studies and another type of headache in five studies. Three studies reported irritable bowel syndrome (IBS). Eight studies reported other causes of pain and three studies did not specify a medical condition or source of chronic pain.

The total length of the interventions ranged from 3 to 12 weeks; the majority of interventions (29 studies) were 8 weeks in length. Twenty-one studies were conducted on mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR) and six on mindfulness-based cognitive therapy (MBCT). Eleven additional studies reported results on other types of mindfulness training. Thirteen RCTs provided the mindfulness intervention as monotherapy, and eighteen utilized a mindfulness intervention as adjunctive therapy, specifying that all participants received this in addition to other treatment such as medication. Seven of the studies were unclear as to whether the mindfulness intervention was monotherapy or adjunctive therapy. Nineteen RCTs used treatment as usual as comparators, thirteen used passive comparators, and ten used education/support groups as comparators. Beyond these common comparators, one study each used stress management, massage, a multidisciplinary pain intervention, relaxation/stretching, and nutritional information/food diaries as comparators; two studies used cognitive-behavioral therapy. Several studies had two comparison arms.

Study Quality and Risk of Bias

The study quality for each included study is displayed in Table ?1. Eleven studies obtained a �good� quality rating [28�38]. Fourteen studies were judged to be of fair quality, primarily due to being unclear in some aspects of the methods [39�52]. Thirteen studies were judged to be poor; ten primarily due to issues with completeness of reporting outcome data such as inadequate or missing intention to treat (ITT) analysis and/or less than 80 % follow-up [53�62] and three due to unclear methods [63�65]. Details of the quality ratings and risk of bias for each included study is displayed in Electronic Supplementary Material 1.

Measures

Studies reported patient pain measures such as the Visual Analog Scale, the SF-36 pain subscale, and McGill Pain Questionnaire. Secondary outcome measures included depression symptoms (e.g., Beck Depression Inventory, Patient Health Questionnaire), physical and mental health-related quality of life (e.g., SF-36 mental and physical components), and functional impairment/disability (e.g., Roland-Morris Disability Questionnaire, Sheehan Disability Scale).

Chronic Pain Treatment Response

Thirty RCTs reported continuous outcome data on scales assessing chronic pain [29, 31�33, 36, 39�49, 51�60, 62�64, 66].

Eight studies met screening inclusion criteria but did not contribute to the meta-analysis because they did not report poolable data [28, 30, 34, 35, 38, 50, 61, 65]. Their study characteristics are displayed in Table ?1, and study level effects along with the reasons they were not in pooled analyses are displayed in Table ?2.

Pain scales and comparators varied from study to study. The median follow-up time was 12 weeks, with a range of 4 to 60 weeks. Figure ?2 displays the results of meta-analysis using data at the longest follow-up for each study. The pooled analysis indicates a statistically significant effect of mindfulness meditation compared with treatment as usual, passive controls, and education/support groups (SMD, 0.32; 95 % CI, 0.09, 0.54; 30 RCTs). Substantial heterogeneity was detected (I 2 = 77.6 %). There was no evidence of publication bias (Begg�s p = 0.26; Egger�s test p = 0.09). To investigate whether the treatment estimate is robust when excluding poor-quality studies and to explore the possible source of the substantial heterogeneity, we conducted a sensitivity analysis including only fair or good quality studies. The improvement remained significant, the effect size was smaller (SMD, 0.19; 95 % CI, 0.03, 0.34; 19 RCTs), and there was less heterogeneity (I 2 = 50.5 %). Meta-regressions showed that changes in pain outcomes in good- (p = 0.42) and fair-quality (p = 0.13) studies were not significantly different from changes in poor-quality studies.

Figure 2: Mindfulness meditation effects on chronic pain.

In subgroup analyses, the effect was not statistically significant at 12 weeks or less (SMD, 0.25; 95 % CI, ?0.13, 0.63; 15 RCTs; I 2 = 82.6 %) but was significant for follow-up periods beyond 12 weeks (SMD, 0.31; 95 % CI, 0.04, 0.59; 14 RCTs, I 2 = 69.0 %). Begg�s test was not statistically significant (p = 0.16) but Egger�s test showed evidence of publication bias (p = 0.04). The quality of evidence that mindfulness meditation is associated with a decrease in chronic pain compared with control is low overall and for both short- and long-term follow-up due to inconsistency, heterogeneity, and possible publication bias. A detailed table displays the quality of evidence for findings for each major outcome in Electronic Supplementary Material 2.

In order to present clinically meaningful results, we calculated the percent change in pain symptoms from baseline to follow-up for mindfulness meditation and comparison groups for each study and displayed findings in Table ?2. We then calculated the overall weighted mean percent change for mindfulness meditation groups versus comparison groups for effects of meditation for pain at longest follow-up. The mean percent change in pain for meditation groups was ?0.19 % (SD, 0.91; min, ?0.48; max, 0.10) while the mean percent change in pain for control groups was ?0.08 % (SD, 0.74; min, ?0.35; max, 0.11). The p value for the difference between groups was significant (p = 0.0031).

Depression

Depression outcomes were reported in 12 RCTs [29, 31, 33, 34, 45, 46, 48, 49, 51�53, 56]. Overall, meditation significantly lowered depression scores as compared with treatment as usual, support, education, stress management, and waitlist control groups (SMD, 0.15; 95 % CI, 0.03, 0.26; 12 RCTs; I 2 = 0 %). No heterogeneity was detected. The quality of evidence was rated as high due to lack of heterogeneity, consistent study results, and precision of effect (small confidence intervals).

Quality of Life

Sixteen studies reported mental health-related quality of life; the effect of mindfulness meditation was significant in the pooled analysis as compared with treatment as usual, support groups, education, stress management, and waitlist controls (SMD, 0.49; 95 % CI, 0.22, 0.76; I 2, 74.9 %). [32�34, 45�49, 52, 54, 56, 59, 60, 62�64]. Sixteen studies measured physical health-related quality of life [32�34, 36, 45�49, 52, 54, 56, 60, 62�64]. Pooled analyses showed a significant effect of mindfulness meditation as compared with treatment as usual, support groups, education, stress management, and waitlist controls (SMD, 0.34; 95 % CI, 0.03, 0.65; I 2, 79.2 %). Both quality-of-life analyses detected substantial heterogeneity, and the quality of evidence was rated as moderate for mental health (small confidence intervals, more consistent results) and low for physical health-related quality of life.

Functional Impairment (Disability Measures)

Four studies reported poolable disability scores from the Roland-Morris Disability Questionnaire and the Sheehan Disability Scale [33, 36, 47, 55]. The difference between the mindfulness and comparison groups in follow-up was not statistically significant (SMD, 0.30; 95 % CI, ?0.02, 0.62; I 2 = 1.7 %), although the results approached significance. No heterogeneity was detected. The quality of evidence was rated low due to imprecision and small total sample size.

Analgesic Use

Only four studies reported use of analgesics as an outcome. In a study of MBSR for treatment of chronic pain due to failed back surgery syndrome [55], at 12-week follow-up, the analgesic medication logs of the intervention group documented a decrease in analgesic use compared with those in the control group (?1.5 (SD = 1.8) vs. 0.4 (SD = 1.1), p = <0.001). A study of mindfulness meditation and cognitive-behavioral therapy vs. usual care for low back pain [35] reported that the mean morphine equivalent dose (mg/day) of opioids was not significantly different between groups at both 8 and 26 weeks. Likewise, a trial of MBSR for back pain [38] found no significant difference between groups in self-reported use of pain medication. Finally, a trial of mindfulness-oriented recovery enhancement (MORE) for chronic pain of various etiologies [44] found intervention participants significantly more likely to no longer meet criteria for opioid use disorder immediately following treatment (p = 0.05); however, these effects were not sustained at 3-month follow-up.

Adverse Events

Only 7 of the 38 included RCTs reported on adverse events. Four stated no adverse events occurred [36, 47, 50, 57]; one described that two participants experienced temporary strong feelings of anger toward their pain condition and two of the participants experienced greater anxiety [46]; two studies recorded mild side effects from yoga and progressive muscle relaxation [35, 38].

Study Characteristic Moderators

Meta-regressions were run to determine if changes in pain outcomes systematically differed by several subcategories. There was no difference in effect on pain between MBSR (16 studies) and MBCT (4 studies; p = 0.68) or other types of mindfulness interventions (10 studies; p = 0.68). When comparing MBSR (16 studies) to all other interventions (14 studies), there was also no difference in effect (p = 0.45). As stated in more detail above, medical conditions reported included fibromyalgia, back pain, arthritis, headache, and irritable bowel syndrome (IBS). Meta-regressions did not suggest differences between headache (six studies) and other conditions (p = 0.93), back pain (eight studies) and other conditions (p = 0.15), and fibromyalgia (eight studies) and other conditions (p = 0.29). Gender composition (% male) had no association with effect on pain (p = 0.26). The total length of the intervention program ranged from 3 to 12 weeks (mean was 8 weeks). Meta-regression did not suggest differences between high-frequency interventions and medium- (p = 0.16) or low-frequency (p = 0.44) interventions. No systematic difference in effect on pain between adjunctive therapy and monotherapy (p = 0.62) or between adjunctive therapy and interventions where this was unclear (p = 0.10) was found. Finally, there was no systematic difference in effect whether the comparator was treatment as usual, waitlist, or another intervention (p = 0.21).

Dr Jimenez White Coat

Dr. Alex Jimenez’s Insight

Chronic stress is a massive issue in the United States and it has had a detrimental impact on the overall health and wellness of the American population. Stress can affect different areas of the body. Stress can increase heart rate and cause rapid breathing, or hyperventilation, as well as muscle tension. Additionally, stress triggers the “fight or flight” response, which causes the sympathetic nervous system to release a mixture of hormones and chemicals into the body. Fortunately, chiropractic care can help with stress management. Chiropractic treatment activates the parasympathetic system which calms the “fight or flight” response. Furthermore, chiropractic care can help reduce muscle tension, improving chronic pain symptoms.

Discussion

In sum, mindfulness meditation was associated with a small effect of improved pain symptoms compared with treatment as usual, passive controls, and education/support groups in a meta-analysis of 30 randomized controlled trials. However, there was evidence of substantial heterogeneity among studies and possible publication bias resulting in a low quality of evidence. The efficacy of mindfulness meditation on pain did not differ systematically by type of intervention, medical condition, or by length or frequency of intervention. Mindfulness meditation was associated with statistically significant improvement in depression, physical health-related quality of life, and mental health-related quality of life. Quality of evidence was high for depression, moderate for mental health-related quality of life, and low for physical health-related quality of life. Only four studies reported on change in analgesic use; results were mixed. Adverse events in the included RCTs were rare and not serious, but the vast majority of studies did not collect adverse events data.

This review has several methodological strengths: an a priori research design, duplicate study selection and data abstraction of study information, a comprehensive search of electronic databases, risk of bias assessments, and comprehensive quality of evidence assessments used to formulate review conclusions. One limitation is that we did not contact individual study authors; results reported in the review are based on published data. We excluded conference abstracts which do not contain enough data to evaluate study quality. In addition, we included only studies published in English.

The included studies had many limitations. Thirteen of the thirty-eight studies were rated as poor quality, primarily due to lack of ITT, poor follow-up, or poor reporting of methods for randomization and concealment of allocation. The authors of ten studies reported inadequate statistical power to detect differences in pain outcomes between mindfulness meditation and the comparator; the authors considered these pilot studies. Ten other studies did not report a power calculation. Sample sizes were small; 15 studies randomized fewer than 50 participants.

More well-designed, rigorous, and large RCTs are needed in order to develop an evidence base that can more decisively provide estimates of its effectiveness. Studies should enroll samples large enough to detect statistical differences in outcomes and should follow-up with participants for 6 to 12 months in order to assess the long-term effects of meditation. Adherence to mindfulness practice and simultaneous use of other therapies should be monitored frequently. Intervention characteristics, including the optimal dose, have also not yet conclusively been established. In order to detect intervention specific effects, studies need to have attention-matched controls. Smaller trials may be conducted to answer these questions. Other outcomes that were outside the scope of this review may be important to explore. As the impact of mindfulness may be related to the appraisal of the pain, it may be useful for future trials to focus primary outcomes on symptoms associated with pain such as quality of life, pain-related interference, pain tolerance, analgesic, and related issues such as opioid craving. Future publications on RCTs of mindfulness meditation should adhere to Consolidated Standards of Reporting Trials (CONSORT) standards.

Only three RCTs attributed minor adverse events to mindfulness meditation. However, only 7 of the 38 included RCTs mentioned whether adverse events were monitored and collected. Thus quality of evidence for adverse events reported in RCTs is inadequate for a comprehensive assessment. Given published reports of adverse events during meditation, including psychosis [67], future trials should actively collect adverse events data. In addition, a systematic review of observational studies and case reports would shed additional light on adverse events during mindfulness meditation.

Further research examining the effect of mindfulness meditation on chronic pain should also focus on better understanding whether there is a minimum frequency or duration of meditation practice for it to be effective. While recent studies have yielded similar positive effects of mindfulness for pain, these effects tend to be small to medium and based on a body of evidence that is, at best, of moderate quality. A potential way to advance research on chronic pain would be to improve intervention and control group descriptions, identify different effects of various components of complex interventions, and work toward a standard criterion for assessing therapeutic gain [68]. Head-to-head trials that compare mindfulness interventions of a similar category but with variations in components or dose may be helpful to tease out the most effective elements of these interventions [69].

Similar to previous reviews in this area, we conclude that while mindfulness meditation interventions showed significant improvements for chronic pain, depression, and quality of life, the weaknesses in the body of evidence prevent strong conclusions. The available evidence did not yield consistent effects for pain outcomes, and few studies were available for forms of mindfulness meditation other than MBSR. Quality of evidence for the efficacy of mindfulness interventions in reducing chronic pain is low. There was higher quality evidence of the efficacy of mindfulness meditation on depression and mental health-related quality-of-life outcomes. This review is consistent with previous reviews concluding that more well-designed, rigorous, and large RCTs are needed in order to develop an evidence base that can more decisively provide estimates of the efficacy of mindfulness meditation for chronic pain. In the meantime, chronic pain continues to pose a tremendous burden on society and individuals. A novel therapeutic approach for chronic pain management such as mindfulness meditation would likely be welcomed by patients suffering from pain.

Electronic Supplementary Material

Ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5368208/

Compliance with Ethical Standards

Funding and Disclaimer

The systematic review was sponsored by the Department of Defense Centers of Excellence for Psychological Health and Traumatic Brain Injury (contract number 14-539.2). The findings and conclusions in this manuscript are those of the authors and do not necessarily represent the views of the Department of Defense Centers of Excellence for Psychological Health and Traumatic Brain Injury.

Authors Statement of Conflict of Interest and Adherence to Ethical Standards Authors

Authors Hilton, Hempel, Ewing, Apaydin, Xenakis, Newberry, Colaiaco, Maher, Shanman, Sorbero, and Maglione declare that they have no conflict of interest. All procedures, including the informed consent process, were conducted in accordance with the ethical standards of the responsible committee on human experimentation (institutional and national) and with the Helsinki Declaration of 1975, as revised in 2000.

In conclusion,�stress can ultimately affect our overall health and wellness if not managed properly. Fortunately, several stress management techniques, including chiropractic care and mindfulness meditation, can help reduce stress as well as improve chronic pain associated with stress. Chiropractic treatment is an important stress management technique because it can calm the “fight or flight” response associated with chronic stress. The article above also demonstrated how mindfulness meditation can be a fundamental stress management technique for improving overall health and wellness. Information referenced from the National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI). The scope of our information is limited to chiropractic as well as to spinal injuries and conditions. To discuss the subject matter, please feel free to ask Dr. Jimenez or contact us at 915-850-0900 .

Curated by Dr. Alex Jimenez

Additional Topics: Back Pain

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The Injury & Trauma Rehabilitation Specialists

PUSHasRx® Trauma Rehabilitation Center

Health, Wellness & Nutrition Specialists

Anxiety and Irrational Fears

Depression

Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)

Chiropractic Care for Auto Accident Injuries

Prediction of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder by Immediate Reactions to Trauma: a Prospective Study in Road Traffic Accident Victims

Abstract

Trauma-Focused Cognitive Behavior Therapy and Exercise for Chronic Whiplash: Protocol of a Randomized Controlled Trial

Abstract

Introduction

Design

Methods

Participants

Inclusion Criteria

Exclusion Criteria

Sample Size

Intervention

Randomisation

Intervention group – Trauma-focused Cognitive-behavioural therapy (CBT)

Control group – Supportive Therapy

Exercise Program

Outcome Measures

Monitoring of Treatment Sites

Adverse Events

Statistical Analysis

Funding

Potential Significance

Conflict of Interest Declaration

Role of Psychosocial Stress in Recovery from Common Whiplash

Abstract

Dr. Alex Jimenez’s Insight

Additional Topics: Back Pain

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References

Close Accordion

Spinal Disc Problems: Chiropractic Treatment Can Help

Chronic Low Back Pain and the Mind

Managing the Scourge of Chronic Low Back Pain

Mind Over Matter

Effectiveness of Mindfulness Meditation on Pain and Quality of Life of Patients with Chronic Low Back Pain

Abstract

Introduction

Methods

Sampling

Inclusion Criteria

Exclusion Criteria

Design

Intervention

Assessments

McGill Pain Questionnaire

Quality of Life (SF-12)

Statistical Analysis

Results

Comparative Results

Dr. Alex Jimenez’s Insight

Discussion

Conclusion

Acknowledgement

Footnotes

Additional Topics: Back Pain

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References

Close Accordion

Mobile Device Injuries

Text Neck

Forearm & Wrist Pain

Sore Upper & Lower Back

Blackberry Thumb

Headaches From Tension In Neck & Back

Chiropractic Treatment For Proper Posture

How Does Stress Affect the Body?

Managing Your Stress

Benefits of Chiropractic Care

A Holistic Care Approach

Effects of Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction vs Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy and Usual Care on Back Pain and Functional Limitations among Adults with Chronic Low Back Pain: A Randomized Clinical Trial

Abstract

Importance

Objective