Effects of a Mindfulness Programme on Competitive Athletes With Physical Disabilities

Polytechnic University of Madrid (UPM)

Status: Completed

Conditions: Athletic Injuries; Physical Disability; Chronic Pain

Treatments: Other: Experimental group (MSPE programme group).; Other: Control group (relaxation group).

Study type: Interventional

Funder types: Other

Identifiers

NCT06184217

UPM

Details and patient eligibility

About

Pain affects the athlete's sporting career directly or indirectly. Directly, the injury affects other areas of the body causing a physical decompensation in the athlete and this affects the correct execution of the sporting technique, or how technical gestures can cause pain. Indirectly, through the psychological consequences of pain that generate a series of negative consequences and feelings. Some studies suggest that psychological skills are an important tool for pain management. For that reason, a mindfulness intervention programme would be a useful tool for manage pain in this population.

Full description

The study hypothesised that the Mindfulness Sports Performance Enhancement (MSPE) programme adapted for this population, was more effective than mindfulness-based relaxation training as a treatment for chronic pain and associated emotional disturbances in Para athletes with physical disabilities, and that it contributes more to modifying psychological variables that have been shown to be related to or have modulatory value in the experience of chronic pain.

Enrollment: 36 patients

Sex: All

Ages: 15 to 60 years old

Volunteers: No Healthy Volunteers

Inclusion criteria

• Have a physical disability
• A minimum of 5 points on a Likert-type scale from 1 (no pain) to 10 (worst pain imaginable) at the time of recruitment
• Be at least 15 years of age
• Have been a competitive athlete (regional, national, world and/or Paralympic Games level) in any sport discipline.
• Have an official regional or Spanish Federation of Sports for People with Physical disabilities licence
• Be willing to participate in a mindfulness programme for pain management
• Sign an informed consent form.

Exclusion criteria

• Not having at least one of the criteria mentioned as inclusion.

Trial design

Primary purpose: Prevention

Allocation: Randomized

Interventional model: Parallel Assignment

Masking: None (Open label)

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36 participants in 2 patient groups

Experimental group (MSPE programme group).

Experimental group

Description:

Experimental (MSPE group). The experimental group received the Mindful Sport Performance Enhancement programme (MSPE), with some changes and adaptations taking into account the characteristics and needs of the Para-athletes and the overall aim of the study. Such as reducing the session time (2h), including staff and support material, extending the pre-session time (35-40 min), and incorporating the dynamics of emotions and Mindful Yoga into the floor of the MBSR programme \[2\].

Treatment:

Other: Experimental group (MSPE programme group).

Control group (relaxation group).

Active Comparator group

Description:

Control group. Control group. Athletes with physical disabilities participating in the home were provided with a guide to body awareness-based relaxation training guidelines \[3\].

Treatment:

Other: Control group (relaxation group).