Treating stress related pain in a clinical sample with flotation-REST: A further report on improvements on pain assessed by the Pain Area Inventory (PAI)
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Thirty-two patients (29 women and 3 men) with stress-related ailments were recruited through the Community Health Care Centre in the city of Lidköping, Sweden. The mean age was 47.75 years (SD = 8.30).
Pain Area Inventory (PAI; Bood, Sundequist, Kjellgren, Nordström, & Norlander, 2005) was used. The test consists of anatomical images of a human being on which the participants indicate their areas of pain with a color pen. The number of colored squares is calculated (total 1,666). Participants were randomized in equal numbers to either a control group or a flotation-REST group (twelve flotation sessions during six weeks). For more information on standard procedures see Bood et al.
A mixed ANOVA with PAI (before, after) as within-subjects factor and Group (control, flotation-REST) as between-subjects factor showed a significant interaction effect for Test and Group [F(1, 29) = 7.10, p = 0.012, Eta2 = 0.20, power = 0.73] indicating no change in regard to pain for the control group (before: M = 46.59, SD = 41.68; after: M = 54.22, SD = 57.21) but an improvement for the flotation group (before: M = 60.94, SD = 57.96; after: M = 40.07, SD = 48.36). There were no other significant effects.
References
Bood, S. Å., Sundequist, U., Kjellgren, A., Nordström, G., & Norlander, T. (2005). Effects of flotation-REST (Restricted Environmental Stimulation Technique) on stress related muscle pain: What makes the difference in therapy, attention-placebo or the relaxation response? Pain Research and Management, 10, 201-209.
Bood, S. Å., Sundequist, U., Kjellgren, A., Nordström, G., & Norlander, T. (2005). Effects of flotation-REST (Restricted Environmental Stimulation Technique) on stress related muscle pain: What makes the difference in therapy, attention-placebo or the relaxation response? Pain Research and Management, 10, 201-209.
The study was supported by grants from the County Council (Landstinget) in Vä
rmland (LiV)
Sweden.
Dr. T. Norlander, Department of Psychology, Karlstad University, SE-651 88 Karlstad, Sweden. Phone: +46 54 700 1178; Fax: +46 54 83 9165; Email: [email protected]