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Relaxation & Pain Management: The relaxation response can play a role in managing chronic and acute pain.
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Susan D. Schaffer PhD, ARNP
Carolyn B. Yucha PhD, RN
$7.95
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AJN, American Journal of Nursing
August 2004
Volume 104 Number 8
Pages 75 - 82
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PDF Version Available!
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ABSTRACT
Outline
- RELAXATION TECHNIQUES
- TEACHING THE RELAXATION RESPONSE
- Relaxed posture.
- Breathing techniques.
- Muscle relaxation techniques.
- Precautions.
- REFERENCES
Graphics
- FIGURE. Controlled B...
Analgesics, the mainstay in the management of acute and chronic moderate-to-severe pain, don’t always relieve it or the attendant restlessness, irritability, muscle tension, difficulty concentrating, and sleep disturbance. Behavioral approaches, including relaxation, have demonstrated efficacy in treating many conditions, including chronic pain and insomnia, 1 headache, 2 postoperative pain, 3 and others, but nurses continue to underuse these adjunctive strategies. 1 According to McCaffery and Pasero, nonpharmacologic methods of pain management can diminish the emotional components of pain, strengthen coping abilities, give patients a sense of control, contribute to pain relief, decrease fatigue, and promote sleep. 4
Acute pain triggers a stress response in the sympathetic nervous system, which results in increases in muscle tension, heart and respiratory rates, blood pressure, blood glucose levels, and blood coagulation. 5 The adrenal cortex supports this stress response with glucocorticoids that enhance the “fight or flight” response but also suppress the immune system and heighten susceptibility to illness, infection, and other complications. 6 Unrelieved pain heightens the response to subsequent pain episodes; anticipation of it causes the same stress response that actual pain stimulus does. Emotions associated with the stress response include anxiety, fear, anger, and hopelessness.
In contrast to acute pain, chronic pain leads to physiologic adaptation that causes the heart rate and blood pressure to fall within normal ranges. However, hormonal stress responses to pain, such ...
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