Some of the more popular posts on our blogsite over the past year have explored the myriad of options available to treat pain naturally, safely and without a drug, from hypnosis to acupuncture and tai chi.

Mastering the ability to meditate is one more effective drug-free alternative that may help patients better handle the emotions that can trigger their pain, according to a British study measuring the pain relief felt by patients with varying degrees of meditation experience (from no background to decades of training). Scientists tested the value of meditation by inducing pain with a laser on the forearm skin of a dozen patients, all the time monitoring their brain activity for signs of anticipating, then feeling, pain.

As in most everything, the more experience one had with meditation, the more he or she was able to dull the searing pain. In addition, scans showed how meditation veterans better anticipated the coming pain in the prefrontal cortex, a sector of the brain that controls attention and thought processes when it perceives of a possible threat.

Meditation also trains patients to focus more intently on the present, rather than anticipating a murkier future, which is why researchers believe it so effectively reduces the recurrence of depression that worsens chronic pain.

Pain May 24, 2010

LiveScience June 6, 2010

ScienceDaily June 2, 2010