A program designed to reduce stress with meditation and yoga might not be much help for people with chronic pain condition Fibromyalgia, a recent study suggests.
The study, published in the journal of pain, examined the effects of so-called stress reduction based on the knowledge--a technique developed by researchers at the University of Massachusetts in 1979 that unites awareness meditation and yoga postures sweet.
The technique is now available worldwide--in the form of a programme for eight weeks of classes--to help people handle stress General or health problems, including chronic pain.
For the new study, researchers led by Dr. Stefan Schmidt, the University Medical Center Freiburg, Germany, experienced the effects of the programme among 177 women with fibromyalgia.
They found that women assigned to awareness program has shown no more earnings relating to health, quality of life of those assigned to a waiting list for treatment.
This did not mean that significant improvements in emotional or physical well-being.
"I am surprised, that didn't work better than it did", Dr. Alex Zautra, Professor of Psychology at Arizona State University in Tempe, told Reuters Health. Zautra, who was not involved in the study, said that he looked for better results, because people with fibromyalgia seems to be good candidates for mind-body therapy.
Fibromyalgia is a diffuse pain syndrome--including specific moments of discomfort "race" in the body--with symptoms such as tiredness, irritable and sleep problems. It is estimated to affect up to 5 million U.S. adults, women most commonly middle-aged.
The exact cause of fibromyalgia is unknown. There are no physical markers, how damage to tissue inflammation or painful areas--but some researchers believe that the disease causes problems because the processes of the brain pain signals.
Standard Treatments include analgesic, antidepressant, cognitive-behavioral therapy and exercise therapy. However, many people with Fibromyalgia are that their symptoms persist despite treatment.
One of the reasons, the suspicion that some researchers, it could be because standard treatments do not address in particular the role of psychological stress and emotions can play in triggering the pain.
Studies have found that people with fibromyalgia have rates above-average growth of stressful life events, such as marital problems and abuse of children. There is also evidence suggesting are less aware of their emotions and have more difficulty in participating in positive feelings compared to people without fibromyalgia.
The idea behind the practice of awareness, said Zautra, is that people become more aware of how they feel, emotionally and physically, from moment to moment. Then you can begin to see how their emotions affect their perceptions of their physical symptoms.
But perhaps the problem, said Zautra, is that "awareness alone is not enough for patients with fibromyalgia."
Namely, people with the disease may need extra help to learn to manage the emotions that come when they meditate or practice of Yoga based on the knowledge.
Another recent study approach "mind-body" Fibromyalgia suggested that patients can benefit from dealing with their emotions. In this study of 45 women with fibromyalgia, about half of those who have suffered a therapy called "affective self-awareness" reported a significant improvement in their pain over six months.
Self-awareness affective--latest therapy that is not widely available--try to get people to "engage directly" their emotions with the help of various techniques. Meditation of awareness and write "expressive" are two of them.
Zautra and his colleagues are in the midst of a clinical test your program based on the knowledge against standard cognitive behavioral therapy and general health education for people with fibromyalgia.
So the jury is still out, "Zautra said, if some patients Fibromyalgia may benefit from the practices of awareness.
Meanwhile, if anyone wants to try it with a litter of awareness meditation class, "this study did not tell them not to" Zautra said.
"But don't expect to treat the pain," he added. "This study raises questions about when and to whom (awareness techniques) can be useful".
Current results are based on 177 women with fibromyalgia, who were randomly assigned to one of three groups: one that crossed the stress reduction program based on awareness of eight weeks; a group control "active" which received the relaxation training and learned gentle stretching exercises; and a second control group, where patients were put on a waiting list for treatment.
All women compiled a standard questionnaire to classify their health quality of life, at the beginning of the study, directly after the end of the therapy program and still two months later.
Overall, team Schmidt found, the entire study group showed a small improvement in the quality of life in time. But there are significant differences between the three groups.
Second Zautra, one possibility is that only certain subsets of patients with fibromyalgia benefit from this or other therapies based on mindfulness.
In one of its own studies, said Zautra, people with rheumatoid arthritis, who also had a history of depression more benefited from meditation of awareness than patients with arthritis who never had fought depression.
You can--although not proven--that the same model could hold true for patients with fibromyalgia, he noted.
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