Chronic knee pain from osteoarthritis can be oppressive and physically restricting, but University of Otago School of Physiotherapy senior lecturer and Pain@Otago research director Dr Ramakrishnan Mani is hoping a new clinical trial using mindfulness meditation and brainwave training will empower people to relieve pain and make them more physically functional again.
Dr Mani is now seeking 45-to-85-year-olds with osteoarthritis knee pain, to participate in his Mindfulness Meditation and Neurofeedback (brainwave) Training (MiNT) trial.
Nationally, one person in 10 has osteoarthritis and its prevalence increases with age.
He said mindfulness meditation training (MMT) was known to effectively reduce chronic pain in general, but its effect on knee osteoarthritis was still unknown.
He said MMT focused attention to the changing sensations of the body (usually the breath) and non-reactive monitoring of arising sensory events.
He believed the training could positively change brain and psychological functions that could result in improving pain.
Neurofeedback (brainwave) training could also help people learn to self-control activity of a brain region that is responsible for suppressing sensory signals from the body, he said.
"The training procedure involves recording the real-time electrical activity of a selected brain region using an electroencephalogram (EEG) electrode cap linked to a computer software system.
"Then the computer provides sound feedback as a reward every time the brain activity reaches a set threshold.
"Training brainwaves can help an individual to learn to self-control the brain activity responsible for pain relief."
Dr Mani said eligible participants would have a clinical diagnosis of knee osteoarthritis with significant pain (present daily) and functional difficulties for a minimum duration of three months.
They would be randomly assigned to one of three groups — mindfulness meditation, brainwave training, or usual care (control group).
It was hoped participants would perceive a reduction in pain following training.
"You will be able to understand your sensitivity to pain, the extent of your natural pain inhibitory functions and your patterns of brain activity that are related to pain processing."
He said the Te Tiriti-led clinical trial had been reviewed and approved by the Health and Disability Ethics committee, and was funded by the New Zealand Health Research Council.
