relaxation

Reducing mental distress in patients undergoing dental procedures including hypnosis, relaxation, and counseling

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An interesting article titled “Non-pharmacological interventions for reducing mental distress in patients undergoing dental procedures: Systematic review and meta-analysis” by Sophia Burghardt  et al., appears in the Journal of Dentistry in 2018 (vol. 68, pp. 22 – 31). The article seeks to determine the effects of hypnosis, enhanced information, relaxation, music, or cognitive-behavioral approaches on adults undergoing dental procedures. The researchers explored 29 randomized controlled trials and found through random effects meta-analyses significant reduction of mental distress when patients underwent a non-pharmacological intervention. In particular the largest effect was shown for hypnosis. People experience anxiety and fear of going to a dentist and some even have a diagnosable condition of dental phobia. Research shows a general dentist is capable of treating adults with mild or moderate forms of dental anxiety but those with severe dental anxiety or even dental phobia often requires … Read more

Headaches after Traumatic Brain Injury Highest in Adolescents and Girls

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A recent study has been conducted by the Seattle Children’s Research Institute and appeared in Pediatrics, vol 129, number 1, January 2012, pages 1 to 9, titled Headache After Pediatric Traumatic Brain Injury: A Cohort Study, wirtten by Heidi K. Blume and et al. The article discusses how in the adult population 18% to 33% of those who suffer from traumatic brain injury suffer from headaches 1 year after the injury. In the child population most of the investigations conducted have been small, retrospective, lacked a control, or involved only short term follow up. Chronic headaches with children are associated with interference in social function, parental productivity, and poor quality of life. The study randomly selected 1507 patients with TBI and 495 controls with arm injury (AI) for the study. However, some patients were not reachable, others were inegligible, and … Read more

Exercise Effective for Preventing Migraines

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An interesting study was recently published in Cephalalgia and looked at 91 migraine patients. A third of these patients were asked to exercise for 40 minutes for 3 times a week with the supervision of a physiotherapist, another third were doing relaxation exercises, and the final third of the patients was given topiramate. The study lasted for a total of 3 months, in which the migraine status, aerobic capacity, level of physical activity, and quality of life was evaluated.  Follow ups of the study were carried out after 3 and 6 months. The randomized controlled study was performed by researchers at the Sahlgrenska Academy at the University of Gothenburg in Sweden. The results showed that the number of migraines fell in all three groups that were examined and described above. There was no difference in the preventative effect between the … Read more