Guided imagery for non-musculoskeletal pain: a systematic review of randomized clinical trials
Journal of Pain and Symptom Management, 06/12/2012
Posadzki P et al. – The evidence that guided imagery alleviates non–musculoskeletal pain is encouraging but remains inconclusive.
Methods- Six databases were searched from their inception to February 2011.
- Randomized clinical trials were considered if they investigated guided imagery in human patients with any type of non–musculoskeletal pain in any anatomical location and assessed pain as a primary outcome measure.
- Trials of motor imagery and hypnosis were excluded.
- The selection of studies, data extraction, and validation were performed independently by two reviewers.
- Fifteen randomized clinical trials met the inclusion criteria.
- Their methodological quality was generally poor.
- Eleven trials found that guided imagery led to a significant reduction of non–musculoskeletal pain.
- Four studies found no change in non–musculoskeletal pain with guided imagery in comparison with progressive relaxation, standard care, or no treatment.
