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• Meditation which has proved to be a great stress buster can also reduce some symptoms of rheumatoid arthritis, according to researchers at the Center for Integrative Medicine at the University of Maryland School of Medicine, Baltimore.
• The study of the therapeutic properties of meditation has revealed its association with reduced cardiovascular risk factors, decreased psychological distress and improved sleep patterns.
• Support for this approach has grown, thanks to research suggesting that programs like the Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) program, which incorporates meditation, yoga and relaxation exercises, may lead to these beneficial results.
• To more definitively assess the effect of MBSR in reducing psychological distress and rheumatoid arthritis disease activity, researchers conducted a study among 63 predominately female rheumatoid arthritis patients.
• All participants were asked to attend assessment sessions at the time they joined the study, two months later and again six months later.
• The assessments included an examination by a rheumatologist for tender and swollen joints, completion of a self-report questionnaire to monitor psychological distress and a blood test to measure erythrocyte sedimentation rate, a non-specific test of inflammation.
• All participants remained under the regular care of their rheumatologists during the study and continued with their normally prescribed medications.
• "While physicians have treated rheumatoid arthritis competently with a range of effective medications, this study shows that mindfulness-based stress reduction may complement that therapy and provide additional benefit to people with this disease," said Elizabeth Kimbrough Pradhan, MPH, co-investigator of the study led by Brian Berman, MD, at the Center for Integrative Medicine at the University of Maryland School of Medicine, Baltimore.
• Doctors may wish to recommend a meditation-based program to patients in addition to the medication regimen already prescribed," she added.

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