Mindfulness meditation for chronic pain

Mindfulness meditation has been shown to produce numerous benefits in older adults with chronic low back pain.  These benefits included less pain, improved attention, better sleep, enhanced well-being, and improved quality of life.  One patient reported: “I felt like a new person”.  The subjects attended a weekly 90-minute class and practiced for 45 minutes every day for 8 weeks.  The study was conducted at the University of Pittsburgh by Natalia Morone and her colleagues, who speculated that this approach might help with other chronic conditions.  And we can speculate that if the elderly, who are often regarded to have a less adaptable nervous system,  responded so well, then younger patients may do even better.