2016, Volume 12, Issue 1
Relaxation as a supportive method in chronic, non-malignant pain treatment: a review 2007-2014
Krystyna Boroń-Krupińska1, Lesław Kulmatycki1
1Faculty of Physical Education, Department of Humanities and Health Promotion, University of Physical Education, Wrocław, Poland
Author for correspondence: Krystyna Boroń-Krupińska; Faculty of Physical Education, Department of Humanities and Health Promotion, University of Physical Education, Wrocław, Poland; email: krystyna.boron[at]awf.wroc.pl
Full text
Abstract
Common phenomenon of chronic pain is accompanied and determined by the physiological, psychological and social disturbances, decreasing the quality of life. That is the reason to lead multidimensional chronic pain treatment. Not only conventional methods are applied, also alternative, including relaxation. The aim of this review is the effectiveness of relaxation techniques in non-cancer, chronic pain intensity reduction in adults.
Analysis was based on 317 documents retrieved from the PubMed/Medline, Science Direct/Scopus databases in years 2007-2014, referring to the impact of relaxation techniques on chronic, non-cancer pain level in adults. Considering inclusion criteria only 39 articles were qualified to be recognized and cited in this review. They were presented and compared considering the impact of relaxation techniques on pain intensity for chronic non-cancer pain in adults.
This survey present different fields and medical conditions related to chronic pain, where a possibility of using varied relaxation techniques appeared. These results indicate that relaxation techniques might be useful as a complementary and supportive therapy for treatment of chronic, non-cancer pain. Future research should include more precise systematics to set its efficacy.
Key words: chronic pain, Complementary and Alternative Medicine, non-pharmacological methods, relaxation techniques, relaxation therapy
