Research found mindfulness meditation produced significant reductions in pain intensity and pain unpleasantness ratings, and also reduced brain activity patterns associated with pain and negative emotions
https://today.ucsd.edu/story/brain-scans-reveal-that-mindfulness-meditation-for-pain-is-not-a-placebo
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Pain is a complex, multifaceted experience shaped by various factors beyond physical sensation, such as a person’s mindset and their expectations of pain. The placebo effect, the tendency for a person’s symptoms to improve in response to inactive treatment, is a well-known example of how expectations can significantly alter a person’s experience. Mindfulness meditation, which has been used for pain management in various cultures for centuries, has long been thought to work by activating the placebo response. However, scientists have now shown that this is not the case.
A new study, published in Biological Psychiatry, has revealed that mindfulness meditation engages distinct brain mechanisms to reduce pain compared to those of the placebo response. The study, conducted by researchers at University of California San Diego School of Medicine, used advanced brain imaging techniques to compare the pain-reducing effects of mindfulness meditation, a placebo cream and a “sham” mindfulness meditation in healthy participants.
The study found that mindfulness meditation produced significant reductions in pain intensity and pain unpleasantness ratings, and also reduced brain activity patterns associated with pain and negative emotions. In contrast, the placebo cream only reduced the brain activity pattern associated with the placebo effect, without affecting the person’s underlying experience of pain.
[https://linkinghub.elsevier.com/retrieve/pii/S0006322324015567](https://linkinghub.elsevier.com/retrieve/pii/S0006322324015567)
Purely anecdotal, but I was able to alter my response to pain after practicing a kind of mindfulness exercise. I would focus intently on the fact that pain is just a loud signal from your nerves to your brain, alerting you to a potential warning. I then imagined my brain responding with its own signal back to the nerves, telling them that I know what I’m doing, and that my body will be okay.
It didn’t stop the painful sensation, but allowed me to control my emotional reaction to it. I was able to use this technique during one rough winter where I had to bike daily to work in 15-30 degree weather.
Anecdotal, but I struggled with chronic pain following thoracic surgery for years. Did all the meds, nerve blocks, and ablations. Only then did they refer me to a psychologist for mindfulness training with biofeedback.
It was the single most helpful thing to improve my overall sense of wellbeing. I think they should’ve recommended this as soon as they realized the pain would be protracted instead of spending 2 years throwing pills at me.