April 14, 2016 – Low Back Pain

Podcast: Download (Duration: 1:05 — 1.5MB)

Subscribe: RSS

Anchor lead:  Mindfulness helps in managing low back pain, Elizabeth Tracey reports

Low back pain affects almost everyone at some point in their lifetime.  Now a new study demonstrates that mindfulness techniques and yoga are just as good as cognitive behavioral therapy and better than conventional management strategies for alleviating back pain.  Rab Razzak, a palliative care expert at Johns Hopkins, isn’t surprised.

Razzak: Many of these sessions were actually educational so that’s something that’s very important for us to remember, the impact of education.  This study actually showed that the educational component of being aware of their thoughts, and sensations, being mindful of that, being mindful of breathing, made an impact on pain.    :20

Razzak says there are very attractive aspects to employing these techniques.

Razzak: You can do this on your own, and at the same time this is something that can act rather quickly.   :06

Razzak says he uses mindfulness very often among hospitalized patients and can testify to how helpful it is.  At Johns Hopkins, I’m Elizabeth Tracey.