Study Reveals Mind-Body Connection To Ease Back Pain

NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- A new study reveals a mind-body connection to ease back pain.

CBS2's Dr. Max Gomez reported Tuesday there are two well-known mind-body therapies – one is shown to be effective for treating depression and other chronic conditions.

"Cognitive behavioral therapy, or CBT, is a therapy that tries to address what are the behaviors that we do because of pain and what are the behaviors that might actually help to alleviate pain versus help to actually create or keep pain going," Dr. Benjamin Balderson, of the Group Health Research Institute, told CBS2.

The other technique, mindfulness-based stress reduction, has not been well studied.

"Mindfulness empowers people to recognize is that everything's always in a state of change. Breathing in, I'm aware, I'm feeling this sensation, it's uncomfortable. Breathing out, I meet myself with compassion, a friendliness, an openness," physical therapist Carolyn McManus, who is a mindfulness and meditation leader, told CBS2.

The study used 342 patients between the ages of 20 and 70 with back pain that had lasted for at least three months. The patients participated in eight weekly two-hour sessions of either mindfulness or cognitive therapy. A third group received usual care. Outcomes were assessed at six months and one year.

"Cognitive behavioral therapy and mindfulness-based stress reduction led to an increased likelihood of having clinically meaningful improvement in back pain than those who were only receiving usual care," Dr. Daniel Cherkin, of the Group Health Research Institute, told CBS2.

Cherkin added, "Benefits in decreased pain and improved function lasted for a full year, which is not common amongst most treatments for chronic pain."

The study appears in the Journal of the American Medical Association.