Meditation as Non-Opioid Source of Pain Relief

Meditation

Meditation is an age-old practice long embraced for its unique ability to relax, center, and focus the minds and bodies of its practitioners. But could it also be a healthy way to relieve pain without the use of drugs, particularly prescription opiates like OxyContin and Percocet that have many in the U.S. reeling from their addictive properties?

A new study suggests that it can and that the ancient technique might be effective as a safe, new mode of therapy for individuals with chronic pain or those who have developed a tolerance to opiate-based medications.

The study, conducted by researchers at Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center, essentially shows that meditation can significantly reduce pain without activating the body’s endogenous opioid receptor system. This is good news for people seeking a non-addictive way to reduce pain.

“Our finding was surprising and could be important for the millions of chronic pain sufferers who are seeking a fast-acting, non-opiate-based therapy to alleviate their pain,” lead researcher Dr. Fadel Zeidan of Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center said in a statement.

Pain and the “Relief” Response

An example helps pinpoint the central question researchers wanted to explore. Burning your finger or spraining your ankle hurts. What normally helps to alleviate the pain is the body’s primary pain-blocking mechanism – the natural production of opioids. Other cognitive and holistic practices like hypnosis and acupuncture have been shown to have some effectiveness at relieving pain, but they seem to do so by triggering or controlling the release of the body’s natural painkillers. Until now, researchers had questions as to whether mindfulness meditation works the same way.

To explore how meditation influences pain response, researchers injected study participants with either a drug called naloxone, which blocks the pain-reducing effects of opioids or a saline placebo.

In the randomized study, 78 healthy, pain-free volunteers were divided into four groups. The first group received naloxone and meditated; the second meditated without naloxone; the third meditated and received a saline placebo; the fourth received the placebo and did not meditate. The pain was induced by using a thermal probe to heat a small area of the participants’ skin to 120 degrees Fahrenheit, a level of heat most people find very painful. Study participants then rated their pain on a sliding scale.

Those who meditated and received naloxone had a 24 percent decrease in pain, compared with their responses before treatment. Among participants who meditated and got a saline injection, pain ratings dropped by 21 percent. In contrast, pain ratings increased in those who did not meditate.

Meditation and a Different Way of Processing Pain

Researchers say the fact that meditation reduced pain ratings even when the body’s opioid receptors were chemically blocked, suggests that the practice reduces pain through a different neurological process – perhaps by changing the extent to which our brains focus on, or process, painful stimuli.

The findings come at a time when the U.S. is in the grip of an epidemic of prescription opioid abuse and overdoses. Approximately 4.3 million Americans took prescription painkillers for non-medical reasons in the last month. More than 40 people die every day from overdoses involving prescription opioids, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). And since 1999, there have been over 165,000 deaths from overdose related to prescription opioid painkillers.

The CDC recently issued new guidelines for doctors intended to reduce the over-reliance on opioid painkillers. In a statement, the agency said, “Many Americans suffer from chronic pain. These patients deserve safe and effective pain management.” Mindfulness meditation just might represent a healthy, non-addictive solution to their problems.

BTG and the Health Benefits of Meditative Practice

BTG has long used meditation as a centering and healing practice that promotes a feeling of calm and well being exceedingly helpful to clients accustomed to harmful and unnatural levels of chemical stimulation. We have found that meditative practices – a regular part of our programming – also aid those in recovery by increasing mental focus, reducing anxiety and depression, normalizing heart rate, and encouraging better sleep.

Meditation is easy to do with very little practice and has a host of benefits supported by medical research. What often begins as a way to ease discomfort in the early stages of withdrawal and recovery often becomes a dedicated, life-enhancing practice among our clients.