Effects of Meditation on Pain and Quality of Life in Multiple Sclerosis and Peripheral Neuropathy

Abstract

The objective of this study was to determine whether meditation affects pain and quality of life in people with multiple sclerosis (MS) and peripheral neuropathy (PN). A total of 22 patients (10 with MS, 12 with PN) participated in a weekly meditation class over a 2-month period. A total of 18 controls (7 with MS, 11 with PN) received standard care. Primary outcome assessments were based on the 36-item Short Form Health Status Survey (SF-36) and a visual analogue scale (VAS) for pain at baseline and at 2 months. Secondary outcome measures included the Neuropathy Impairment Score (NIS) for PN patients and the Patient-Determined Disease Steps (PDDS) questionnaire and 5-item Modified Fatigue Impact Scale (MFIS-5) for MS patients. After 2 months, study participants who practiced meditation reported an improvement in pain on the VAS (P = .035 combined group), summed physical health scores on the SF-36 (P = .011 MS, P = .014 PN), summed mental health scores (P = .02 combined group), vitality (P = .005 combined group), and physical role (P = .003 combined group). A significant improvement was also observed for bodily pain (P = .031) in MS patients. In contrast, no significant differences before and after the intervention were observed for controls. Regarding the secondary measure of fatigue, improved scores for the cognitive and psychosocial components of the MFIS were noted in MS patients in the intervention group (P = .037, P = .032). No statistically significant changes were observed in the NIS for PN patients or in PDDS scores for MS patients. Meditation may be helpful in reducing pain and improving quality of life in patients with MS and PN. The lack of changes seen in mobility (MS) and sensorimotor deficits (PN) suggests that meditation may not affect the overall clinical course.

Distress improves after mindfulness training for progressive MS: A pilot randomised trial

“…Both differences related to large effect sizes and were statistically significant at the 5% level. The effect size for post-intervention 15 was -.64, a medium to large effect, and the 3-month effects size was -.94, a large effect.…”

Association Between Pain and Mindfulness in Multiple Sclerosis

“…Three small trials found significant trends toward pain reduction, [19][20][21] but the results are difficult to interpret. Tavee et al 20 conducted an 8-week nonrandomized trial of group meditation training (n = 10 people with MS and 12 people with peripheral neuropathy) versus usual care (n = 7 people with MS and 11 people with peripheral neuropathy). Mean bodily pain scores improved for people with MS in the intervention group (n = 10, P = .03) and remained the same for the control group; between-group analyses were not conducted.…”

“…12 Mindfulness-based intervention studies have found positive effects for chronic pain in fibromyalgia, low back pain, arthritis, and a variety of somatization disorders, [14][15][16][17][18] but very few trials have been conducted in MS. Three small mindfulness-based MS trials have demonstrated significant trends toward pain reduction, yet results are difficult to interpret due to limitations in sample size and study design. [19][20][21] To explore the appropriateness of future mindfulness-based interventions targeting pain in MS, we evaluated the relationship between pain interference and trait mindfulness in 132 people with MS.…”

“…Very few mindfulness-based interventions have been conducted with people who have MS, [19][20][21]39,40 and only some of these have assessed the intervention's effect on pain. Three small trials found significant trends toward pain reduction, [19][20][21] but the results are difficult to interpret.…”

Therapeutic Yoga: Symptom Management for Multiple Sclerosis

“…More recently, a growing number of individuals have turned to mind-body therapies-a specific exercise regimen including yoga, mediation, relaxation techniques, breath work, visual imagery, hypnotherapy, and biofeedback-to manage symptoms of MS. [27][28][29][30][31][32][33] For example, Yadav and colleagues 32 conducted a survey with 1110 patients with MS. Thirty-two percent reported both highly perceived psychological and physical benefits to using mind-body modalities, such as yoga, meditation, relaxation techniques, and breathing. In another study, Nayek et al 30 gathered data from 11,600 individuals with MS and found that 57.1% of the responding sample had used at least one form of complementary and alternative medicine (CAM), citing a general preference for alternative mind-body therapies.…”