Mindfulness-based stress reduction for low back pain. A systematic review

BMC Complementary and Alternative Medicine

Research Article

Gustav Dobos¹  Heidemarie Haller¹  Holger Cramer¹  Romy Lauche¹ 

[1] Chair of Complementary and Integrative Medicine, University of Duisburg-Essen, Essen, Germany;

关键词: Low back pain;    Mindfulness-based stress reduction;    MBSR;    Complementary therapies;    Review;   

DOI  :  10.1186/1472-6882-12-162

 received in 2012-01-05, accepted in 2012-09-24,  发布年份 2012

来源: Springer

【 摘 要 】

BackgroundMindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR) is frequently used for pain conditions. While systematic reviews on MBSR for chronic pain have been conducted, there are no reviews for specific pain conditions. Therefore a systematic review of the effectiveness of MBSR in low back pain was performed.MethodsMEDLINE, the Cochrane Library, EMBASE, CAMBASE, and PsycInfo were screened through November 2011. The search strategy combined keywords for MBSR with keywords for low back pain. Randomized controlled trials (RCTs) comparing MBSR to control conditions in patients with low back pain were included. Two authors independently assessed risk of bias using the Cochrane risk of bias tool. Clinical importance of group differences was assessed for the main outcome measures pain intensity and back-specific disability.ResultsThree RCTs with a total of 117 chronic low back pain patients were included. One RCT on failed back surgery syndrome reported significant and clinically important short-term improvements in pain intensity and disability for MBSR compared to no treatment. Two RCTs on older adults (age ≥ 65 years) with chronic specific or non-specific low back pain reported no short-term or long-term improvements in pain or disability for MBSR compared to no treatment or health education. Two RCTs reported larger short-term improvements of pain acceptance for MBSR compared to no treatment.ConclusionThis review found inconclusive evidence of effectiveness of MBSR in improving pain intensity or disability in chronic low back pain patients. However, there is limited evidence that MBSR can improve pain acceptance. Further RCTs with larger sample sizes, adequate control interventions, and longer follow-ups are needed before firm conclusions can be drawn.

【 授权许可】

CC BY   
© Cramer et al.; licensee BioMed Central Ltd. 2012