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Loving-Kindness Meditation for Chronic Low Back Pain -
Results From a Pilot Study
Loving-Kindness Meditation for Chronic Low Back Pain
Results From a Pilot Trial
Purpose: Loving-kindness meditation has been used for centuries in
the Buddhist tradition to develop love and transform anger into
compassion.
This pilot study tested an 8-week loving-kindness program for
chronic low back pain patients.
Method: Patients (N = 43) were randomly assigned to the
intervention or standard care. Standardized measures assessed
patients pain, anger, and psychological distress.
Findings: Post and follow-up analyses showed significant
improvements in pain and psychological distress in the
loving-kindness group, but no changes in the usual care group.
Multilevel analyses of daily data showed that more loving-kindness
practice on a given day was related to lower pain that day and
lower anger the next day.
Conclusions: Preliminary results suggest that the loving-kindness
program can be beneficial in reducing pain, anger, and
psychological distress in patients with persistent low back
pain.
Implications: Clinicians may find loving-kindness meditation
helpful in the treatment of patients with persistent pain.
Keywords: meditation; chronic low back pain; pain; anger;
psychological distress
JOURNAL OF HOLISTIC NURSING, Vol. 23 No. 3, September 2005
287-304
DOI: 10.1177/0898010105277651
© 2005 American Holistic Nurses Association
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