Floating Alleviates Chronic Stress-related Pain

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Floating Alleviates Chronic Stress-related Pain

http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/medicalnews.php?newsid=37946

Treatment in the form of floating in huge tanks of saltwater, so-

called `floating,' is effective for chronic stress-related pain. This

is shown in a study at Karlstad University, Sweden, led by Professor

Torsten Norlander.

The research study shows that individuals suffering from stress-

related health problems such as chronic pain, depression, or anxiety

are often helped a great deal by floating. The effect remains four

months after the treatment period. A control group, which did not

participate in floating, experienced no improvement in their health.

The study is part of a series at the Human Performance Laboratory and

is research project run in collaboration with the Värmland County

Council.

The patients who were treated with floating had had health problems

for a long time. Several of them had been diagnosed with `burn-out.'

They had various stress-related symptoms like pain, exhaustion,

depression, and anxiety.

" These are individuals who often have tried many different forms of

treatment before. They are individuals who are in the greatest

possible need of relaxation but who have the hardest time adopting

methods of relaxation. They are so tightly wound up that the methods

don't work, " says Professor Torsten Norlander.

What happens, then, when these patients are allowed to float? It

appears that floating is an effective way to trigger the body's

relaxation response. The level of stress hormones goes down during

and after floating. Moreover, it seems as if the treatment has an

even greater effect since prolactin, a kind of `life-force hormone,'

is released in larger amounts.

After a period of treatment totaling seven weeks, 22 percent of the

participants in the floating group were entirely free of pain, and 56

percent experience a clear improvement; 19 percent noticed no

difference, and 3 percent grew worse.

In terms of symptoms, the findings were as follows: 23 percent slept

better; 31 percent experienced less stress; 27 percent felt less

anxiety; and 24 percent were less depressed or came out of their

depression completely.

What the researchers find particularly gratifying is that the

positive effects were still in evidence four months after the

floating treatment ended.

To ensure that the good results can be ascribed to floating as such,

the researchers set up, on the one hand, a control group that did not

take part in floating and, on the other hand, a subdivision within

the floating group. One of these subgroups received normal attention

and encouragement, while the other subgroup was given extra attention

and encouragement.

" It might be suspected that it was the attention and encouragement

that yielded results, so we wanted to try treating the two floating

groups differently. But it turned out that there was no difference

between the two subgroups of floaters: their results were equally

good. On the other hand, the control group, which did not take part

in floating, registered no improvement whatsoever, " says Sven-Åke

Bood, a doctoral student in psychology and a registered nurse. This

research on floating is part of his coming doctoral dissertation.

Stress is largely about how we worry about things that have happened

and are going to happen. When an individual, instead, manages to

reach a sort of `here-and-now' state, the brain can rest. These

researchers believe that floating is a way of achieving just such a

state. In a dark and silent floating tank, the patient is cut off

from many sense impressions. Besides the rest the brain gets, the

muscles also become relaxed.

In one study the researchers found that about 12 floating treatments

are sufficient to achieve results. The group that received 33

floating treatments attained only slightly better pain relief and

blood pressure levels. It seems as if 12 treatments are enough to

alleviate anxiety, depression, and other stress-related symptoms.

In another study the researchers examined whether floating can be

combined with conversational therapy. Thus far it seems that patients

who float achieve positive results more quickly during conversational

therapy. Floating enhances the effect.

The research project, which has been underway since 2003, is being

funded by the Värmland County Council and the Center for Clinical

Research.