The Evidence and Therapeutic Use of Mindfulness for Chronic Low Back Pain

About Speaker

Natalia E. Morone, MD, MS is a General Internist and Associate Professor of Medicine at Boston University School of Medicine and Boston Medical Center. Over the past 18 years she has established her research career in integrative nonpharmacological interventions to treat chronic pain and is an expert in mindfulness interventions for chronic low back pain. Her research portfolio also extends into mindfulness delivered via electronic Health (eHealth) and telehealth. She has been or is currently principal investigator on seven RCTs. She has also been or is currently the co-Investigator on six clinical trials. Her two RCTs for older adults with chronic low back pain demonstrated that mindfulness meditation reduces pain in the long-term and increases function in the short term. These results helped inform the American College of Physicians 2017 Guidelines to use meditation for the treatment of chronic low back pain. She is the Principal Investigator of the Optimizing Pain Treatment In Medical settings Using Mindfulness (OPTIMUM) pragmatic clinical trial which will be discussed during the talk.