Take Two Aspirin & Pet Fido in the Morning
If you’ve got chronic pain, you know the above advice is just silly — or is it?
A new study we conducted at the University of Pittsburgh evaluated the impact of adding a therapy dog to 
an outpatient pain management clinic. Therapy dogs are trained and certified to be quiet, calm, obedient, and soothing and research shows that spending time petting a therapy dog is good for your health. Studies with hospital patients and nursing home residents show that therapy dog visits result in both subjective benefits — reduced stress, anxiety, and depression — and objective improvements in physiology — reduced heart rate, blood pressure, and breathing, and decreases in stress chemicals like cortisol.
In this study, published today in the journal Pain Medicine, chronic pain patients and their family/friends accompanying patients to their appointments were given an opportunity to spend their time waiting for appointments in the routine waiting room where a television and magazines were present or in a room with the therapy dog. Staff members were also permitted to spend free time visiting with the dog or sitting quietly in a room without the dog. Distress and pain were measured before and after dog visits that lasted for an average of 11 minutes. A total of 295 visits were made with the therapy dog compared with almost 96 routine waiting room stays. Patients, their friends and family, and the staff experienced significant reductions in stress, anxiety, sadness, and aggravation after spending time with the therapy dog, without significant changes occurring in the routine waiting room. About one in three patients felt calm, pleasant, or cheerful when they arrived at the clinic. This did not improve by spending time in the waiting room. When patients spent time with the therapy dog, two in three became calm, pleasant, or cheerful after visiting with the dog. In addition, among those patients with moderate to severe pain, meaningful pain relief occurred following the dog visit for 26 percent of patients compared with only 3 percent of those waiting in the usual waiting room.
So the next time you’re sitting in a doctor’s waiting room, you might ask, “Where’s the therapy dog?”
RESEARCH OPPORTUNITY
Do you get migraines? Do you live with a dog? Then we’re looking for you to help out with an online survey Migraine.com is conducting with the University of Pittsburgh asking about your migraines and your dog. The survey is completely anonymous and should take approximately 15 minutes to complete. You will be asked to answer questions about your background (age and migraine frequency) and questions about your dog. Click here to get started with the survey. Thanks!
Read more about therapy dogs in The Power of Wagging Tails: A Doctor’s Guide to Dog Therapy and Healing.
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