Loving-kindness meditation for chronic low back pain: Results from a pilot trial

Carson, James W., Keefe, Francis J., Lynch, Thomas R., Carson, Kimberly M., Goli, Veeraindar, Fras, Anne Marie and Thorp, Steven R. (2005) Loving-kindness meditation for chronic low back pain: Results from a pilot trial. Journal of Holistic Nursing, 23 (3), 287-304. (doi:10.1177/0898010105277651).

Abstract

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.

This record has no associated files available for download.

Contributors

Author: Thomas R. Lynch

Download statistics