Pets

A New Study has found that Affection from Dogs could Ease Physical Pain in Humans

todayApril 13, 2022

Background
share close

Ask any dog parent if time with their pup can cure any ailment, and you would probably be met with a resounding, “Yes!” Most dog parents claim that time with your pooch can help cure most ailments. But, as Daily Paws reports, new study is putting scientific evidence behind this assertion. In the study, Canadian researchers found that spending just 10 minutes with a therapy dog reduced levels of pain, anxiety, and depression and increased feelings of well-being in patients in the emergency department experiencing pain.

In the study, participants visited by therapy dogs reported a:

  • 43% reduction in pain
  • 48% reduction in anxiety
  • 46% reduction in depression
  • 41% improvement in well-being

To conduct the study, the researchers asked 97 ED patients to rate their levels of pain, depression, anxiety, and sense of well-being on 11-point rating scales (with 1 being the lowest and 11 being the highest) before time with a therapy dog, immediately after, and then 20 minutes after. The patient’s heart rate and blood pressure were also measured at these intervals.

In the control group, these same factors were evaluated and recorded for 101 ED patients that weren’t visited by a therapy dog at two separate intervals 30 minutes apart. The researchers stated there were no statistically significant differences in the gender, age, or ethnicity of experimental and control group participants.

There were several limitations to the study, so we can’t say with certainty yet whether these findings are valid. For starters, the researchers didn’t account separately for the impact of the therapy dogs and their handlers. Data used in the study were also only collected in one hospital setting and did not factor in information about medications patients took that could have impacted pain levels or whether people experienced chronic pain or not.

Yet despite these limitations, Jessica Chubak, senior investigator with the Kaiser Permanente Washington Health Research Institute who was not involved in the study, wrote in an email to CNN that the results of the study are promising. “Our current understanding of the effects of therapy dog visits in emergency department settings is fairly limited,” she wrote. “So, it is particularly important to have more research in this area.”


Photo Credit: Daxiao Productions / Shutterstock.com

Written by: Vipology Staff Writer

Rate it

Previous post

Country

The Judds Make Their Comeback With 2022 CMT Performance

For the first time in 20 years, mother-daughter country duo the Judds returned to the stage for the 2022 CMT Awards. Wynonna, 57, and Naomi Judd, 76, performed their 1990 hit "Love Will Build a Bridge" with the help of a gospel choir. Earlier this week, the Judds--who will be inducted into the Nashville Country Music Hall of Fame this year--announced their first tour in over a decade. The "Final […]

todayApril 13, 2022


Subscribe

LISTEN WITH YOUR APP

0%