I have a backache that makes me die.
Since 9 years ago I was diagnosed with ankylosing spondylitis, I can't remember a day when my back didn't hurt. However, it is different now.
I do not think that my back pain comes from the disease but from some kind of pinching or product of the tensions that unfortunately I live every day.
Every year 10 million work days are lost due to back pain. Could these figures be reduced by practicing Mindfulness and thus mitigating stress?
I am sure it is. Whenever I talk about Mindfulness, I calm down. I associate that word with calm, fully focus on what I am doing now, try goes into flow. And that makes my heartbeat slow.
Studies have been conducted in which Mindfulness has been applied to people who had back pain. Here is one of those studies.
In a study of 342 adults between the ages of 20 and 70, 61% of those who received Mindfulness-based treatment felt better able to move without pain. This study concluded by saying that Cognitive Behavioral Therapy was just as effective as Mindfulness in reducing pain. The effects lasted for at least a year.
By Cognitive Behavioral Therapy we can change the way we think and behave when we are in pain. We can reduce the stress and negative impact of back pain by changing the way the mind processes pain.
Mindfulness training to reduce back pain
The study I have discussed above included two-hour group sessions once a week for eight weeks. In these group sessions they were taught to meditate and practice yoga.
One of the first exercises was to stay on a mat for 10-20 minutes, focusing on different parts of the body, becoming aware of all the sensations and accepting them.
Dan Cherkin, from the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine and lead author of this research, believes that Mind training can have more lasting effects than spinal manipulation.
Research even suggests that mindfulness can cause physical changes in brain regions that regulate emotions, memory, and consciousness.
Cherkin acknowledges that learning Mindfulness can be as difficult to achieve as practicing Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, but says there are online courses and recommends Dr. Jon Kabat-Zinn's book "Living Crisis Fully«.
Here is a video of a conference that Dr. Jon Kabat-Zinn gave at the UCM School of Medicine. The conference is titled "Mindfulness to Cope with Stress, Pain and Illness":
It's worth noting that the mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR) program is also being studied in breast cancer, not only to see if it reduces distress but also to see if it improves survival.
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