BACKGROUND: Mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR) and mas-sage may be useful adjunctive therapies for chronic musculoskeletal pain. OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the feasibility of studying MBSR and mas-sage for the management of chronic pain and estimate their effects on pain and mood. DESIGN: Randomized trial comparing MBSR or massage with stand-ard care. PARTICIPANTS: Thirty patients with chronic musculoskeletal pain. MEASUREMENTS: Pain was assessed with 0 to 10 numeric rating scales. Physical and mental health status was measured with the SF-12. RESULTS: The study completion rate was 76.7%. At week 8, the mas-sage group had average difference scores for pain unpleasantness of 2.9 and mental health status of 13.6 compared with 0.13 (Po.05) and 3.9 (Po.04), respectively, for the standard care group. These differenc-es were no longer significant at week 12. There were no significant dif-ferences in the pain outcomes for the MBSR group. At week 12, the mean change in mental health status for the MBSR group was 10.2 compared with 1.7 in the standard care group (Po.04). CONCLUSIONS: It is feasible to study MBSR and massage in patients with chronic musculoskeletal pain. Mindfulness-based stress reduc-tion may be more effective and longer-lasting for mood improvement while massage may be more effective for reducing pain. KEY WORDS: mindfulness-based stress reduction; massage; chronic pain; mental health; integrative medicine.

Abstract: Non-drug medicine has become popular with patients and physicians worldwide as it is realised that CAM (complementary and alternative medicine) is efficient for physical and mental diseases, sexual dysfunctions and existential problems without the side effects of pharmaceutical medicine. We have identified five healing principles related to seven classes of CAM to identify efficient