Media Release
March 23 2010
Meditation may assist headaches: new study
The
ancient practice of meditation could soon become a modern therapy to
treat headaches.
UniSA researchers will
investigate the effects of mindfulness meditation on headaches, which
affect up to 80 per cent of the population.
Lead researcher
Dr Stuart Cathcart said headaches were associated with significant
socio-economic cost through loss of employment productivity and cost to
the health care system, as well as significant reduction in personal
quality of life.
“Headache is a really common condition,” Dr Cathcart said.
“While up to 80 per cent of people get occasional headaches, six per
cent are chronic headache sufferers, getting headaches more than 15 days
per month.
“Chronic tension headache is in the World Health Organisation’s top 10
ranking of illness by disability. Improved understanding and treatment
of chronic tension headache is a critical and urgent health issue.”
Dr Cathcart said most headache sufferers self-medicated with
over-the-counter medicines such as paracetamol and codeine. The long
term use of opiate based medications such as codeine is associated with
development of dependence and decreased effectiveness over time.
“The current treatment is problematic and we need a better solution,” he
said.
Dr Cathcart said the bulk or research evidence now showed that headache
was not caused by muscular tension as previously thought, but rather,
involves increased pain sensitivity in the central nervous system.
“We have recently discovered that stress contributes to headache by
aggravating increased pain sensitivity in headache sufferers,” he said.
“We also know that meditation can reduce stress and pain sensitivity, so
we’re interested to see the effects of meditation for headache
sufferers.
“We will be using mindfulness meditation, which involves paying
attention to one’s moment-to-moment perceptions, emotions and sensations
in a non-judgemental, accepting and non-reactive way.”
The pilot study is a collaborative effort involving researchers from
UniSA’s School of Psychology,
Social Work and Social Policy;
School of Health Sciences;
and School of Pharmacy and
Medical Sciences.
The researchers are looking for people aged 18 to 65 who suffer from
headaches to take part in the study, however participants must not have
any other pain conditions (such as back pain) and must have no major
medical or psychiatric conditions.
Participants will receive a free place in a meditation course especially
designed for treating headaches. The course comprises six one-hour group
sessions, conducted two evenings per week, for three weeks. Participants
will also receive a free meditation CD and manual for home use.
Anyone interested can phone Dr Stuart Cathcart on 8302 4887 or Dr
Maarten Immink on 8302 2675.
Contact for interview
-
Dr Stuart Cathcart mobile 0438 002 151
Media contact
- Kelly Stone office (08) 8302 0963 mobile 0417 861 832 email kelly.stone@unisa.edu.au