Imagination Takes Kids' Mind Off Pain

[12 August 2004 - Reuters] Guided imagery, along with medication, can reduce post-operative pain and anxiety in children, new study findings suggest. "The need for interventions that reduce children's acute pain on a short-term basis is growing," Dr. Myra Martz Huth, at Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center in Ohio, and colleagues point out in their report, published in the medical journal Pain. Hospitals stays being shortened, and dealing with kids' pain at home is difficult. Their study was designed to test the effectiveness of a professionally developed program, "To Tame the Hurting Thing," comprised of booklets, videotapes and audiotapes. More