Alternative and complementary therapies are effective in reducing pain for hospitalized patients, according to a recent study published in the Journal of Patient Safety.
The study was sponsored by the Penny George Institute for Health and Healing at Abbott Northwestern Hospital and clearly shows inpatient integrative medicine can have a significant impact on pain without the use of opioid medication, which can trigger unintended side effects.
Dr. Greg Plotnikoff, director of the institute and study co-author said, “We’re looking at non-drug ways of achieving good pain control and were demonstrating great response.”
The study shows alternative therapies reduce a patient’s pain as much as 50 percent. “In fact we got pain down to zero in a third of the cases”, Plotnikoff added.
The study included 1,837 cardiovascular, medical, surgical, orthopedics, spine, rehabilitation, oncology, and women’s health patients at Abbott Northwestern for an eighteen month period ending June 30, 2009. Patients scored their pain level on a scale of 0-10 right before and after therapeutic treatment.
The treatments included a variety of mind body therapies to encourage relaxation, along with acupuncture, acupressure, massage therapy, healing touch (Reiki), music therapy, aromatherapy, and reflexology.
Research director, Jeffrey Dusek, Ph.D., said, “It’s groundbreaking because it’s the first time a hospital-wide study is showing pain reduction across cancer patients, cardiovascular patients, spine patients, every patient.”
In most cases, Dusek believes such low-risk therapies can significantly improve the recovery time needed post surgery while at the same time improving patients’ state of mind.
He explains, “If they have fewer pain medications, it increases the immune function by having the massage or mind-body therapies to ramp up the body’s own healing process.”
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