How Meditation Can Help With Pain Management

6/1/2017

By Nanci Nilles, Psy.D.

Chronic pain has emerged as a major health concern in the last decade. In the past, medication was the go to remedy for pain. Now the standard of care includes medical guidance with lifestyle change, particularly stress reduction. In this context meditation has gained popularity as an effective way to cope with pain.

How can meditation address chronic pain?

It's helpful to understand chronic pain as having a primary and secondary source. The primary source of pain is the actual illness or disruption in physical functioning. An example is degenerative disc disease or a migraine headache.

The secondary source is the mind's reactions to the primary source of pain. The mind naturally hones in on intense experiences such as pain. It analyzes the pain by comparing the present experience to past experience. The goal of this comparison is to find a solution to the current problem of pain.

However, with chronic pain, the sufferer may have a disportionately large reservoir of negative memories of unresolved pain. This analysis does not yield an effective solution, rather it may flood the sufferer with negative associations. This entire complex cognitive process takes place automatically, and may actually amplify pain (Penman 2014.)

Here is the good news: Meditation addresses the cognitive functions behind secondary pain.

Imaging and scans show brain structures actually change with the regular practice of mediation. Specifically, a regular consistent practice of meditation appears to increase gray matter density and neural activity in the areas of the brain associated with attention, working memory, problem solving and emotional regulation. Additionally, brain scans show regular meditators have decreased activity in the brain regions associated with the fight or flight response (Goldstein 2012.)

It is no wonder people with chronic pain who meditate on a regular basis experience decreased pain. Some have described feeling empowered when they can detach from their pain. Others find meditating helps them to accept their pain instead of fighting it. Most encouraging is small consistent efforts with meditation can make a big difference. Meditating may not take the pain away; but it can empower a person's ability to manage it.

Learn more about using Mindfulness to address chronic pain with Dr. Nilles this fall. Stay tuned for more information!

8 Comments

Kayla link

10/10/2017 09:58:16 am

Thanks for this tip. My aunt is in pain. She already tried this. We are now looking up some pain management service to help her out.

Alexandria Martinez link

10/17/2017 05:27:31 pm

My mother needs to get the help of a pain management service. I think that it would be helpful for her to learn some techniques of her own while also taking this pain management. She would really like learning that meditation decreases pain.

Jeremy Thompson link

12/5/2017 08:01:44 pm

It's interesting to learn that meditation can help relieve some of the mental pain and stress chronic pain can give you and in turn help you feel more healthy yourself as you've mentioned. I better start practicing the proper ways to meditate with my wife since it would not only help with my recurring back pain but may also do wonders for our daily stress. Hopefully, meditation can be a very effective pain management method as you've stated earlier. Thanks!

3/13/2018 09:47:29 pm

I didn't know that the mind naturally hones in on intense experiences like pain. My sister was having a hard time sleeping because of her terrible headache. My mom suggested trying pain management specialist treatment and shared this article with her.

Moira Blythe link

5/15/2018 11:20:41 am

My mother has problems with pain. I appreciate your advice that meditating may not take the pain away, but it will help the person with the ability to manage the pain. This is something that would be interesting to try out with my mother!

Heidi Bookenstock link

7/26/2018 11:12:06 am

I've had many knee surgeries over the last 5 years that has left me with residual pain and discomfort. There's only so much ibuprofen can do for me. This article is super interesting, I would love to know what it feels like to detach from my pain.

Stella Mary link

8/21/2018 09:33:04 am

Back pain and migraine are two bad conditions that this generation is facing to the great extent. Here in post, it is very nice to understand that meditation helps to reduce them. Thank you for sharing the informative post.

Camille Devaux link

8/30/2018 06:18:37 pm

A friend of mine has been thinking about getting pain management. She wants to know any ways to make her feel better than she does. It would help her a lot to look into meditation since she will be able to address cognitive issues with pain.

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