(Reuters Health)—Mind-based therapy programs may help ease chronic back pain, new research suggests.
Patients who took part in such programs were more likely to have noticeable and lasting improvements in back pain than those who stuck to their usual routines, investigators found.
Both of the approaches tested in the study—mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR) and cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT)—can be helpful for people who haven’t benefited from other therapies, said lead author Daniel Cherkin, of the Group Health Research Institute in Seattle.
“Maybe it’ll make a difference for them,” he told Reuters Health.