Mindfulness techniques may help alleviate neuropathic pain during breast cancer treatment
A recently published study in the journal Mindfulness shows that mindfulness-based stress reduction is a viable adjunctive treatment option for breast cancer survivors living with chronic neuropathic pain.
The study aimed to examine the impact of an 8-week mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR) program on emotional reactivity in breast cancer survivors with chronic neuropathic pain (CNP). MBSR focuses on learning adaptive responses to stressful situations; in case of pain, it concentrates on shifting the focus to pain acceptance rather than pain control.
Twenty-one women who were breast cancer survivors, received treatment before a year, and experiencing CNP with a base-line pain severity score of > 4 (moderate to severe) on the Brief Pain Inventory for more than 6 months were included in the study. These participants were randomly allocated either assigned to a MBSR treatment group (n = 11) or a waitlist control group (n = 10). The MBSR group attended 8 weeks of MBSR training. Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) were performed before and 2-weeks after the MBSR program while completing the emotional Stroop task as a measure of emotional reactivity.
The primary outcome of the study was emotional reactivity; however, pain severity and interference from the Brief Pain Inventory were also assessed before and after the program. Pain interference was significantly decreased after the training program in the MBSR treatment group only.
Thus, the study findings suggest that 8-week MBSR training is a worthwhile adjunctive treatment for breast cancer survivors with CNP as it has a significant impact on neural correlates of pain processing and attention. Further research to build on the preliminary findings is warranted.
Source: Mindfulness (2020)
Source link: https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s12671-020-01546-9