A mind-body program for older adults with chronic low back pain: results of a pilot study.
OBJECTIVE
Determine the impact of an 8-week mindfulness meditation program on disability, psychological function, and pain severity in community-dwelling older adults with chronic low back pain, and to test the education control program for feasibility.


METHODS
Randomized controlled trial. Participants. Forty community-dwelling older adults with moderate low back pain or greater for at least the previous 3 months. Intervention. Participants were randomized to an 8-week meditation program or an 8-week education control program.


METHODS
Disability, psychological function, and pain severity were assessed. The same measures were obtained for both groups at baseline, at the end of the program, and 4 months after program completion.


RESULTS
Sixteen participants (80%) completed the meditation program and 19 (95%) completed the education program. Both the meditation and control group improved on measures of disability, pain, and psychological function, both at program completion and 4-month follow-up. The differences between the two groups did not reach statistical significance. The meditation group practiced mindfulness meditation a mean of 5 days/week (range 1-7) and mean of 31 minutes/session (range 22-48). At 4 months follow-up 14/16 (88%) participants continued to meditate.


CONCLUSIONS
Both the intervention group and the education control group improved on outcome measures suggesting both programs had a beneficial effect. Participants continued to meditate on 4-month follow-up. The control program was feasible but not inert. Piloting the control program in mind-body research can inform the design of larger clinical trials.
Morone
Natalia E
NE
Division of General Internal Medicine, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA.
Rollman
Bruce L
BL
Moore
Charity G
CG
Li
Qin
Q
Weiner
Debra K
DK
D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000375:Aging / Q000502:physiology* / Q000523:psychology; D001521:Behavior Therapy / Q000379:methods*; D004185:Disability Evaluation; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D017116:Low Back Pain / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000523:psychology / Q000628:therapy*; D008297:Male; D019122:Meditation / Q000379:methods* / Q000523:psychology; D026441:Mind-Body Therapies / Q000379:methods* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D017063:Outcome Assessment, Health Care; D010147:Pain Measurement; D010353:Patient Education as Topic / Q000379:methods / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D017060:Patient Satisfaction; D010865:Pilot Projects; D011897:Random Allocation; D016896:Treatment Outcome