Sensory focus, a new pain attenuation technique: A systematic review

Abstract

Objective To systematically summarize any demonstrated pain attenuation effect of sensory focusing. Methods Reports of studies of the sensory focus technique published between January 2000 and January 2018 were retrieved from Pubmed, the Web of Science, and the Cochrane and CNKI databases. Only reports of randomized and controlled trials were included, and those where sensory focus was combined with other techniques were excluded. Results Nine trials were included. All of the reports concluded that the sensory focus approach, properly applied, can significantly attenuate sensations of pain. Those who could understand and gain command of sensory focus and those who had less fear of pain gained a better effect, especially among males and teenagers. However, Persons with high level of catastrophic emotion cannot activate the non-emotional path of pain effectively. Unexpectedly, no effect of education level was observed. Conclusion The sensory focus technique can attenuate pain sensations and has potential to be applied in clinical practice. Key words: Sensory focus; Cognition; Pain