RELAXATION TECHNIQUES IN PAIN SYNDROMES

By BOKAS CRISTINA, SERIA 1 GROUP 3

Relaxation techniques are various methods that allow a person to relax in order to reduce the levels of
pain syndromes, being an integral part of psychological pain therapy. These lead to vegetative
stabilization (calming the mind and lowering the amount of stress hormones in the blood), muscular
stabilization, serve as distraction from pain, build up the internal focus of control and improve self-
efficacy.

Methods of relaxation therapy are: the Jacobson progressive muscle relaxation, mental imagery,
biofeedback, hypnosis etc.

The progressive muscle relaxation (PMR) after the American doctor Edmund Jacobson is the most
widely used method in pain disorders. In this method, 16 different muscle groups that include all major
ones except the lower back muscles are briefly tensed and relaxed again. The patient becomes a passive
and careful observer of the relaxation process that occurs. With increasing practice, the number of muscle
groups increases to 7, later reduced to 4. In the end, the active tension phase disappears, further relaxed
from this level. This is known as relaxation through mindfulness, which can be used in everyday life as a
short relaxation.

Imagination has been used in psychotherapy for a very long, being a dynamic psychophysiological
process in which realistic perceptions of different sensory qualities are generated at the level of
imagination (images, smells, noises, temperature). These perceptions are suitable to induce relaxation
reactions through specific physiological changes (the improvement of the blood circulation in the skin
during hand-warming training). The patient can think “The hand is in the sun” or he imagines the blood
vessels that keep expanding. Ideas of a place of rest in the form of dream trips are used to deepen
relaxation and as a distraction from pain. In addition, positive emotions can be experienced.

The hypnosis and biofeedback often use imaginative techniques that promote relaxation. Hypnosis
represents a special state that can range from heightened awareness to deep relaxation and plays a role for
both the sensory and the affective part of pain perception. With the help of biofeedback, physical signals
can be facilitated and reported back visually or acoustically, conveying specific body reactions such as
vasoconstriction of the temporal artery in migraines, etc. The most frequently used signal in chronic pain
is the EMG (electromyogram) for tension headaches, temporomandibular complaints and back pain.

REFERENCES

www.webmd.com/pain-management/guide/stress-relief-for-pain

“Relaxation techniques for chronic pain” by A Diezemann