A new clinical study was published in the last couple of weeks that posed the question; Does mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR) and yoga improve migraine outcomes and affective/cognitive processes compared with headache education?
Participants underwent MBSR (standardized training in mindfulness/yoga) or headache education (migraine information) delivered in groups that met for 2 hours each week for 8 weeks.
This randomized clinical trial of 89 adults who experienced between 4 and 20 migraine days per month, found that standardized training in mindfulness and yoga through MBSR did not improve migraine frequency more than headache education about migraine, as both groups had similar decreases.
However, the study concluded “that mindfulness and meditation improved disability, quality of life, self-efficacy, pain catastrophizing, and depression out to 36 weeks, with decreased experimentally induced pain suggesting a potential shift in pain appraisal”. Its another study that supports what many of us in the yoga therapy community have experienced: that meditation and yoga may help treat total migraine burden, the management of chronic pain and associated side effects and the impact on mental health and overall wellbeing – a larger, more definitive study is needed to further investigate these results – but it is nevertheless encouraging. How successful has yoga and meditation been for you in the treatment of migraine?
You can access the study here
