冥想能消除背痛嗎?

冥想能消除背痛嗎?

It might seem too good to be true that relief from that nagging back pain could be found in meditation and yoga. But a new study suggests this approach might be just as effective as cognitive behavioral therapy, a common technique involving relaxation and education. And both could be more effective than popping an over-the-counter pain reliever.

在冥想和瑜伽中可以緩解背痛，這似乎太好了，簡直難以置信。但一項新的研究表明，這種方法可能和認知行為療法一樣有效，認知行為療法是一種涉及放松和教育的常見技術(shù)。這兩種藥都比非處方止痛藥更有效。

Researchers compared the two approaches in 229 adults between ages 20 and 70 with long-term low back pain. They assigned about half to receive eight weekly sessions of mindfulness-based stress reduction, involving meditation and yoga, and the other half to receive eight sessions of cognitive behavioral therapy, which focuses on helping people change the way they think about pain. Another 113 adults continued their usual care, which often involved ibuprofen and other pain meds.

研究人員對229名年齡在20歲至70歲之間、長期腰痛的成年人進行了比較。他們讓大約一半的人每周接受8次以正念為基礎(chǔ)的減壓訓(xùn)練，包括冥想和瑜伽，另一半人接受8次認知行為療法，主要是幫助人們改變對疼痛的看法。另有113名成年人繼續(xù)他們的日常護理，通常包括布洛芬和其他止痛藥。

The researchers found that by the end of the eight-week course, 47% of people in the mindfulness group said their back pain was less disabling, based on factors such as difficulty walking and carrying out everyday activities. A similar number of people, 52%, in the cognitive behavioral therapy group reported less disabling pain. Both groups fared better than the group that did not change treatment, of whom only 35% had experienced improvements.

研究人員發(fā)現(xiàn)，在為期八周的課程結(jié)束時，正念小組中47%的人表示，基于行走困難和日?；顒拥纫蛩?，他們的背痛的減少。有同樣人數(shù)的認知行為治療組中也有52%的人報告說，他們的致殘?zhí)弁闯潭容^輕。兩組患者的情況都好于沒有改變治療方案的那組，其中只有35%的患者的情況有所改善。

"Our results confirm what has already been found for (cognitive behavioral therapy), and we went beyond that to show this other mindfulness approach was equally effective for chronic back pain," said Daniel C. Cherkin, a senior scientific investigator at the Group Health Research Institute in Seattle. Cherkin is the lead author of the study, which was published Tuesday in the Journal of the American Medical Association.

“我們的研究結(jié)果證實了已經(jīng)發(fā)現(xiàn)的(認知行為療法)，我們進一步證明了這種正念療法對慢性背痛同樣有效，”西雅圖團體健康研究所(Group Health Research Institute)的高級科學(xué)研究員丹尼爾c切爾金(Daniel C. Cherkin)說。切爾金是這項研究的主要作者。這項研究發(fā)表在星期二的《美國醫(yī)學(xué)會雜志》上。

Cognitive behavioral therapy is already recommended in "some of the most thoughtfully developed and presented guidelines," Cherkin said. For example, the American College of Physicians and American Pain Society guidelines suggest that doctors consider the therapy, along with other non-drug options such as acupuncture, massage therapy and exercise therapy, for patients with chronic low back pain.

Cherkin說，認知行為療法已經(jīng)在“一些經(jīng)過深思熟慮制定和提出的指導(dǎo)方針”中得到推薦。例如，美國醫(yī)師學(xué)會和美國疼痛協(xié)會指南建議醫(yī)生考慮對慢性下腰痛患者進行治療，以及其他非藥物選擇，如針灸、按摩療法和運動療法。

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention released guidelines last week advising primary care physicians to prescribe therapies, such as cognitive behavioral therapy and physical therapy, and medications such as Tylenol before opioids for patients with chronic pain.

美國疾病控制和預(yù)防中心(Centers for Disease Control and Prevention，簡稱CDC)上周發(fā)布了指導(dǎo)方針，建議初級保健醫(yī)生為慢性疼痛患者開出認知行為療法和物理療法等療法，以及泰諾(Tylenol)等藥物，然后再服用阿片類藥物。

The number of people in the mindfulness group who said they had improvements in their disability was 68% one year after completing the therapy sessions compared with 47% right after the eight sessions. Similarly, the people in the cognitive behavioral therapy group who reported less disability rose from 52% right after they finished the sessions to 59% a year later. There were also improvements in the control group, from 35% to 49%, but the gains were not as great as in the therapy groups.

在正念組中，在完成治療一年后表示他們的殘疾有所改善的人數(shù)為68%，而在完成八次治療后這一比例為47%。同樣，認知行為治療組中報告殘疾較少的人從治療結(jié)束后即刻的52%上升到一年后的59%。對照組也有改善，從35%提高到49%，但進展沒有治療組那么大。