Hypnosis For Reducing Lower Back Pain
Hypnosis for reducing lower back pain
The word “hypnosis” conjures a very specific image to most people — usually a man dangling a watch on a chain in front of your eyes and making you count backwards until you fall into some sort of deep trance. But clinical or medical, hypnosis is more than fun and games. It is an altered state of awareness used by therapists to treat psychological or physical problems. Hypnosis for reducing lower back pain is one such option.
Why Use Hypnosis?
Considering the fact that the cost of pain in the United States is growing, with the total annual incremental cost of health care due to pain ranging from $560–$635 billion in medical care and costs associated to disability days and lost wages. Therefore, therapies that address the mind-body link are often recommended for those dealing with long-term pain. Helping to reduce stress and change the thought patterns related to pain can make a huge difference to pain perception. For many, complementary approaches such as the use of hypnosis is part of this plan.
How Does Hypnosis Work?
Hypnosis is a set of techniques designed to enhance concentration, minimize one’s usual distractions, and heighten responsiveness to suggestions to alter one’s thoughts, feelings, behavior, or physiological state. Hypnosis is not a type of psychotherapy. It also is not a treatment in and of itself; rather, it is a procedure than can be used to facilitate other types of therapies and treatments. The key to becoming hypnotized is the extent to which a person is hypnotizable, which is a very reliable and stable individual difference trait that indexes one’s openness to hypnotic suggestions.
Judging by what some of the things subjects often do during a hypnotist’s show, people often conclude that hypnosis gives the hypnotist total control over his subjects like a puppeteer pulling strings on a marionette. As a result, many people don’t think of hypnosis as a viable medical treatment and end up relegating it. But hypnosis isn’t about convincing you that your pain doesn’t exist, it aims to help you manage the fear and anxiety you feel related to that pain. It also helps to reduce stress and relax the nervous system to help it become less reactive to pain.
Hypnosis And Pain Management
So how does hypnosis treat pain? Normally, when a part of the body experiences pain, it sends a signal through the nervous system to the spinal cord, where it is processed and sent to the brain stem. The signal then propagates through the mid-brain region to the cortical region (where the sensory cortex is located), which creates the conscious sensation of pain.
During hypnosis, the conscious part of your brain is temporarily tuned out as a you focus on relaxation and let go of distracting thoughts. The American Society of Clinical Hypnotists likens hypnosis to using a magnifying glass to focus the rays of the sun and make them more powerful. When our minds are concentrated and focused, we are able to use them more powerfully. If your mind is off to the beach, and you’re imagining the warmth of the sun, the cool of the breeze, the sand at your feet, you’ll be less focused on your pain – and ready for the indirect suggestion of how to react to pain in the future. It might sound something like this: “You will continue to feel this same sensation of pain, but you’ll be much less distressed about it, much calmer, much more at ease, not worried about it.”
hypnosis for pain management
Can Hypnosis Prevent Pain?
But can something as simple as falling into a trance really prevent us from feeling pain? At first glance, it seems unlikely – something as painful as surgery or childbirth should be able to break through a mere mental state. Hypnosis has, however, been reported as an effective treatment for pain mitigation in both of these situations and is quickly gaining reputability among physicians as a cheap and effective way to reduce acute and chronic pain.
In 1996, a panel of the National Institutes of Health found hypnosis to be effective in easing cancer pain. More recent studies have demonstrated its effectiveness for pain related to burns, cancer, and rheumatoid arthritis and reduction of anxiety associated with surgery. An analysis of 18 studies by researchers at Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New York revealed moderate to large pain-relieving effects from hypnosis, supporting the effectiveness of hypnotic techniques for pain management.
What Does The Research Say ?
The research into hypnosis for chronic back pain has generally been favorable as well. A study conducted by a group in 2009 involved 37 adults with spinal-cord injury and chronic pain who were randomized into 10 sessions of either self-hypnosis or EMG biofeedback relaxation training for pain management. Participants in both conditions reported substantial decreases in pain intensity from before to after treatment sessions. Participants in the hypnosis group, however, in contrast to the EMG biofeedback group reported statistically significant decreases in daily average pain pre- to post-treatment, which were maintained at a 3-month follow-up.
Hypnosis is a tool you also can give to children to help them take control. When they feel pain, they can do something about it immediately without having to wait until you get there with the pills or for the pills to take effect. Having hypnosis as a tool also helps eliminate stress that comes from not having control. For children however, creating an active mental escape may be necessary. Rather than relaxing at the beach with a book, a child may want to imagine playing on the playground or kicking a soccer ball down the field.
Final Thoughts
Some people respond to hypnosis better than others, but there’s no harm in trying it. It has no side effects and if it doesn’t work for you, you should stop using it.
If you consider hypnotherapy for back pain relief, you will find that hypnosis not only reduces the intensity of back pain, but in certain circumstances is able to completely heal it. However, it is important to have any persistent pain investigated by a medical practitioner and follow any medical advice you are given. Eliminating the pain without discovering its cause can result in more pain in the future. It is therefore important to get a diagnosis of the cause of the back pain. Once you are able to discover the cause, you can then safely deal with the pain.
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I like to hear from the readers so please leave me a comment below to let me know if this post helped you or if you have any questions.
Hi,
I have heard hypnosis used for many things but not for the treatment of lower back pain. I think this is quite a new method in the medical treatment for now? Personally, I have never tried before but since hypnosis can “help” to relax, there is a possibility it can help to reduce the pain as most pain nowadays are caused by tight muscles.
The thing about hypnosis that I am curious about is it same as sleeping,at least for the mental state?
Jacob
Hi Jacob,
When people are in a deep hypnotic state the same things are happening to them as when they are asleep even though they are not sleeping. For example, their breathing patterns can be very similar. Also, keep in mind that REM sleep is considered the “dream sleep”. Dreams, experts have told us, are the mind’s way of flushing out unresolved emotions so one can start the next day fresh. Hypnosis when done well is a deliberate creation of REM state in ourselves and others. In other words, it can open up the interface with the unconscious and in that way help us deal with trauma. In this sense, hypnosis is like sleep. Hypnosis, however, is not sleep.
Hello there…
Amazing site:) I didn’t t know that hypnosis can cure pain…
I was always interested of the hypnosis but i didn’t know about this:). It was very informative reading:)
I enjoyed very much reading your post…Can I ask you something?
Is not so much related tot this theme about cure pain but it is about the hypnosis .Do you think with the help of hypnosis can someone go back to your past life? Do you believe in this?
I have a site about time travel and i am interested in your opinion about hypnosis.
Thanks for sharing and Ia m waiting for your answer.
Cristina
Hi Christina,
Thanks for the feedback and kind words. I think hypnosis can tap into our unconscious and enable us to remember and observe past events. In that sense, yes I think hypnosis can take us back in time. thanks again for a thought provoking and heartfelt question. Keep asking and exploring.
I read some interesting theories about this.
It hasn’t been given much credence by the scientific community though, or people in general.
But who knows.
Hi Martha,
Take a look at the note that I left Daniels. I think minds are being changed, in some cases slowly, about the effectiveness of hypnotherapy.
Hi.
The scientific community seems to be of two minds when it comes to the efficacy if hypnotherapy, to be honest.
I’ve read studies that claim it’s hogwash and others that say it’s effective.
It’s hard to see the reason for doubt though, as it relaxes and soothes me.
Thanks for the well written article.
Hi Martha,
I think one’s resistance level may determine how well hypnotherapy works. If one has an open mind and allows himself or herself to experience the process, then hypnotherapy may work as intended.
Hypnosis sure sounds like an interesting idea. I’ve heard some people swear by it for stopping smoking and other health related stuffs. I just wonder if masking the pain with hypnosis would leave you vulnerable to further injury because you think you feel good. At least, that’s what it seems like.
Hi Anthony,
This relates to something I told Nathan: hypnosis should be practiced by a medical professional. That said, here’s a more specific answer to your observation.
Pain is often a symptom that something is wrong; therefore a thorough medical examination is necessary to determine the cause of the pain. With the doctor’s permission hypnosis can then be used to relieve the pain, not using hypnosis to mask it. Again, never under any circumstance try to mask a problem. Sometimes, though, the connection between the mind and the physical must be looked at. Here is where hypnotherapy can be useful.
Just wanted to chip this in. Hypnotherapy definitely works but then, it’s also easily open to abuse. So, you can’t just go to any one who says they can do it. You should first check their credentials and find out information from people who have had it from that person. Having said that, it doesn’t mean hypnosis doesn’t work. It works and I’m speaking from my own personal experience.
Hi Daniels,
I think more and more people in the scientific community see hypnosis as one of the tools that can be used to address the whole spectrum of pain management. They see hypnotherapy as one of the ways to retraining the brain. Pain is produced by the brain. It’s possible that even when the body is out of danger, that is tissue is healed as best as possible, on going pain still persists. The brain must be retrained to deal with the sensitivity of the nervous system.
Just wanted to chip this in. Hypnotherapy definitely works but then, it’s also easily open to abuse. So, you can’t just go to any one who says they can do it. You should first check their credentials and find out information from people who have had it from that person. Having said that, it doesn’t mean hypnosis doesn’t work. It works perfectly and I’m speaking from my own personal experience.
Hypnotherapy is performed by a Hypnotherapist. By law, Hypnotherapy must be performed by a trained professional who is a medical practitioner, or under the supervision or direction of a licensed practitioner. Some issues require a script from a medical doctor for a referral. So You’re right Nathan. You shouldn’t go to anyone who says they can do it. In fact this is how the federal agency that regulates credentials in this area defines best practices.
What is a Hypnotherapist?
“Hypnotherapist—induces hypnotic state in client to increase motivation or alter behavior pattern through hypnosis. Consults with client to determine the nature of problem. Prepares client to enter hypnotic states by explaining how hypnosis works and what client will experience. Tests subject to determine degrees of physical and emotional suggestibility. Induces hypnotic state in client using individualized methods and techniques of hypnosis based on interpretation of test results and analysis of client’s problem. May train client in self-hypnosis.”
– U.S. Department of Labor Directory of Occupational Titles. D.O.T. 079.157.010.
So the bottom line is that you should stay away from anyone who uses hypnosis as pure entertainment and instead go to someone who has the medical training to help solve your issue.
I am a huge fan of hypnosis, I think that it has many relevant uses. Therefore, I have to admit my surprise that it has been studied and used as a treatment for pain and specifically back pain as well. Considering the studies conducted, I must say that I am disappointed that in my field I have not heard more about it. It makes sense though that it would work. Hypnosis is very undervalued when taking into account it’s successes. It would be tremendous if the use of it was taken more seriously as a pain management tool. Our minds are very powerful, we should learn to reign in some of that power versus just relying on expensive pharmaceuticals and mainstream treatments.
I think you make an excellent point when speaking about how hypnosis is very undervalued by the medical professional. I think doctors of all people should realize that pain resides for the most part in the brain. Anything that can distract the brain from focusing on pain, like hypnosis, can be a very helpful pain management tool.
wow! Informative post! I really love this post.. I never knew that hypnosis can reduce lower body pain. This is One of the most Informative post I have read online in the past 3 month.
Hi Ashley,
As I said in the post, Some people respond to hypnosis better than others, but there’s no harm in trying it. It has no side effects and if it doesn’t work for you, you should stop using it.
However, I have also noted that eliminating the pain without discovering its cause can result in more pain in the future. It is therefore important to get a diagnosis of the cause of the back pain. Once you are able to discover the cause, you can then safely deal with the pain. That said, hypnosis is becoming more accepted by the medical profession as an alternative treatment to managing pain.