Dr. Woliner's weekly health tip

[Guest guest]

Docs:

Here is Dr. Woliner's weekly health tip. This one puts in a good

plug for meditation.

Lyndon McGill, D.C.

EvolvHealth Wellness Advisory Council Member

Salem, Oregon

www.SalemSpineClinic.com

www.EvolvingDaily.com

Simple, Scientific Trick Beats Pain Naturally

If you had to get a shot back when you were a kid, the nurse

probably told you to look away. “You’ll hardly feel a thing,”

she’d say.

For most of us, that nurse was pretty close to right. The shot

wasn’t so bad after all. And chances are, from that day forward,

you looked away when getting a shot.

Well, it turns out nurses have been right all along. A research

group in Germany recently proved it with a clever simulation.

They had people watch a monitor placed so it looked very much

like they were watching their own hand. Then they showed them (on

the monitor) either a hand, a hand being touched by a cotton swab

or a hand being pricked by a needle.

At the same time, the researchers applied either a gentle or a

painful electrical shock to their own hand. The shocks always

seemed more painful to the subjects while watching the needle

prick.

Even more interesting, they also showed increased nervous system

activity when watching the needle… regardless of which electrical

stimulus was applied.1

What that meant was that the additional pain wasn’t “just in

their heads.” They were literally having an enhanced pain reaction

when watching the needle.

A second new study can help you put this idea to practical use.

In this study, two groups of people were asked to complete a

memory task while researchers applied a painful – but not

dangerous – amount of heat to their arms.

One group was given a fairly simple task, while the second group

was given a tough one. The second group reported less discomfort

during the test.

Using MRI (magnetic resonance imaging) during the test,

researchers saw there was less pain signal activity along the

spinal columns of the hard task group. In other words, they

weren’t just not noticing the pain as much as the first group…

they were actually feeling less pain.

Next, the researchers repeated the test after giving some of the

volunteers a drug that blocks opioids – your body’s most powerful

natural painkillers. Those who took a look-alike placebo still

showed less pain activity.

But the volunteers who took the drug had a 40% increase in pain.2

The scientists say this shows that distracting your brain when

you’re in pain leads to the release of your body’s own natural

painkillers.

Of course, you may not want to pull out your math book every time

you have a sore back or a headache. But there is another trick

that works very well.

Last year, researchers from Wake Forest and Marquette

Universities put meditation to the test. Like memory problems,

mindfulness meditation refocuses your attention. And the team’s

MRI results back it up.

After just 4 days of meditation sessions, their subjects’ pain

intensity was 40% lower. And it bothered them 57% less.3

Mindfulness is simply being aware of your present state. It’s

best practiced in a quiet, relaxing place, where you won’t be

interrupted.

Sit comfortably – either on the floor or in a chair. But practice

good posture. Your back should be straight and your shoulders

relaxed. Let your head fall gently forward a bit, and don’t focus

your eyes on anything in particular.

Observe your body and your senses, but don’t concentrate. If

thoughts come up, simply remind yourself that you’ll deal with

them later. Many people like to focus on their breathing. Just

observe your breath going out and coming in.

To begin with, you can practice for as little as five minutes at

a time. Eventually, you can extend your meditation to 20 minutes

or so. It’s a simple way to lower your level of pain… and it’s

free.

Yours in continued good health,

Dr Woliner, M.D.

1 Hauck, H.M., et al, “Viewing a needle pricking a hand that you

perceive as yours enhances unpleasantness of pain,” PAIN®. May

2012; 53(5).

2 Sprenger, C., et al, “Attention Modulates Spinal Cord

Responses to Pain,” Current Biology. May 17, 2012; Published

online before print.

3 Zeidan , E., et al, “Brain Mechanisms Supporting the

Modulation of Pain by Mindfulness Meditation,” The Journal of

Neuroscience. Apr 6, 2011,;31(14): 5540-5548.