Description

While not directly targeting gout symptoms, meditation and mindfulness practices have been explored for their potential benefits in managing chronic pain and stress associated with various rheumatic conditions. A systematic review by Hilton et al. (2017) in the Annals of Behavioral Medicine found that mindfulness meditation had small effects on pain, depression, and quality of life in patients with chronic pain conditions. Although this review didn't specifically focus on gout, its findings may be relevant to gout patients experiencing chronic pain. Another study by Davis et al. (2015) in Psychosomatic Medicine demonstrated that mindfulness-based stress reduction could lead to improvements in pain severity and functional limitations in older adults with chronic low back pain. The potential mechanisms of mindfulness in pain management were explored in a review by Zeidan and Vago (2016), which suggested that mindfulness might modulate pain through multiple brain mechanisms. While there is a lack of gout-specific studies on meditation and mindfulness, these practices are generally considered safe and may offer broader benefits for stress reduction and overall well-being. The American College of Rheumatology guidelines (Khanna et al., 2012) do not provide recommendations on meditation for gout due to lack of evidence. Patients interested in exploring these practices should discuss them with their healthcare provider and consider them as complementary to, not a replacement for, conventional gout treatments.