SPORTS RECOVERY HYPNOSIS
BACKED BY SCIENCE

The purpose of this study was to expand our knowledge and increase our understanding of imagery use by athletes in sport-injury rehabilitation using a qualitative approach. The participants were 10 injured athletes who were receiving physiotherapy at the time they were interviewed. 

During the interviews, the athletes provided extensive information about their use of imagery during injury rehabilitation and it was clear that they believed imagery served cognitive, motivational and healing purposes in effectively rehabilitating an injury. Cognitive imagery was used to learn and properly perform the rehabilitation exercises. They employed motivational imagery for goal setting (e.g. imagined being fully recovered) and to enhance mental toughness, help maintain concentration and foster a positive attitude. Imagery was used to manage pain. The methods they employed for controlling pain included using imagery to practice dealing with expected pain, using imagery as a distraction, imagining the pain dispersing, and using imagery to block the pain. With respect to what they imaged (i.e. the content of their imagery), they employed both visual and kinesthetic imagery and their images tended to be positive and accurate. It was concluded that the implementation of imagery alongside physical rehabilitation should enhance the rehabilitation experience and, therefore, facilitate the recovery rates of injured athletes. 

Moreover, it was recommended that those responsible for the treatment of injured athletes (e.g. medical doctors, physiotherapists) should understand the benefits of imagery in athletic injury rehabilitation, since it is these practitioners who are in the best position to encourage injured athletes to use imagery.

Orthopedic hand-surgery patients experience severe pain postoperatively, yet they must engage in painful exercises and wound care shortly after surgery; poor patient involvement may result in loss of function and disfigurement.

This study tested a hypnosis intervention designed to reduce pain perception, enhance postsurgical recovery, and facilitate rehabilitation. Using a quasi-experimental research design, 60 hand-surgery patients received either usual treatment or usual treatment plus hypnosis. The hypnosis group showed significant decreases in measures of perceived pain intensity (PPI), perceived pain affect (PPA), and state anxiety.

Physician's ratings of progress were significantly higher for experimental subjects than for controls, and the experimental group had significantly fewer medical complications.

These results suggest that a brief hypnosis intervention may reduce orthopedic hand-surgery patients' postsurgical PPI, PPA, and anxiety; decrease comorbidity; and enhance postsurgical recovery and rehabilitation.

This study presents a literature review of research on the effectiveness of hypnotherapy for the treatment of chronic pain and anxiety. 

The researchers endorse the American Psychological Association’s (APA) definition of hypnosis: “A state of consciousness involving focused attention and reduced peripheral awareness, characterized by an enhanced capacity for response to suggestion.”

The review found that the studies provided evidence for the effectiveness of hypnotherapy as a treatment to assist in the reduction of pain and anxiety. 

A stronger evidence base for hypnotherapy has developed over the past decade, and the review provides some key recommendations for future research in this area.

This systematic literature review explores 91 research articles into hypnotherapy to determine the effectiveness of clinical hypnotherapy treatments in the treatment of health conditions or symptoms, including anxiety, pain, depression, and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). 

40% of the literature provided evidence of the effectiveness of hypnotherapy in treating chronic pain. 

The findings also show hypnotherapy to be effective in the treatment of anxiety. In addition, hypnotherapy was seen to significantly improve depressive symptoms and elevate mood. 

The literature concluded that hypnotherapy was “a safe, clinically effective intervention” and recommended that hypnotherapy “should be considered within treatment management protocols for a wide range of conditions.”

According to the researchers, “Chronic nonspecific low back pain is a common condition that is associated with high financial costs and disability.”

The study explored the effectiveness of hypnotherapy in improving chronic non-specific low back pain in clients. 

The researchers investigated the effectiveness of two therapies by splitting 100 patients into two groups: one where only pain education (PE) was used and one where PE was coupled with hypnotherapy.

The researchers found that clients undergoing a combination of PE and hypnotherapy reported lower worst pain intensity (high pain interference on mood, social relationships, walking, work, and life satisfaction) and reduction in disability within two weeks of therapy than those undergoing only PE. 

Hypnosis was also reported to decrease catastrophizing, leading to a reduction in the intensity of chronic pain in patients.

“Pain affects up to 1.5 billion adults worldwide,” resulting in disability, economic burden, and loss of quality of life. 

The meta-analysis review of 85 studies, consisting of 3,632 participants suffering from chronic pain, aimed to quantify the effectiveness of hypnosis for reducing pain. 

The findings reveal that hypnosis results in lower overall pain intensity (75%), lower affective pain rating (78%), increased pain tolerance (56%), and higher pain threshold (78%). 

The researchers also found differences in the effectiveness of hypnosis based on the hypnotic suggestibility of patients. High hypnotic suggestibility patients experienced greater pain relief (42%) compared to their low hypnotic suggestibility counterparts (29%). 

The study concludes that hypnotherapy can benefit the majority of people suffering from chronic pain.

Cancer patients requiring chemotherapy usually undergo the implantation of a subcutaneous central venous access port in their chest, which is a procedure performed under local anaesthesia. 

The researchers aimed to determine the effectiveness of hypnotherapy on 148 patients undergoing the procedure under local anaesthesia across five primary dimensions: comfort, pain, attention, information, and waiting time. Secondary outcomes they explored included anxiety, heart rate, and physical discomfort. 

Participants were divided into two groups, one receiving hypnosis and the other receiving standard care. The hypnosis group listened to a 26-minute recorded audio hypnosis session during the implantation procedure. 

It was concluded that the patients from the hypnosis group reported significantly improved comfort and pain levels compared to the standard care group. 

Hypnosis was recommended as an effective intervention that decreases anxiety, restlessness, and discomfort of patients undergoing surgery under local anaesthesia.

The researchers investigated the effectiveness of mindful hypnotherapy in reducing stress.

Mindful hypnotherapy combines elements of mindfulness and hypnotherapy whereby focusing attention to imagery helps promote a healthy mind-body connection.

In a randomized trial, 42 college students with elevated stress were divided into two groups: a control group and a group that underwent hypnotherapy. The hypnotherapy group completed one-hour individual sessions for eight weeks.

The findings revealed that participants experienced “significant improvements in perceived stress, overall mindfulness, psychological flexibility, and psychological distress.” 

In addition, participants reported a decrease in depression, hopelessness, anxiety, and anger.

The researchers conclude that mindful hypnotherapy is effective, as it “significantly decreases psychological distress and perceived stress while boosting mindfulness.” 

“Anxiety is a psychological and physiological state characterized by somatic, emotional, cognitive and behavioral components.”

In an attempt to explore the effectiveness of hypnotherapy in treating anxiety disorders, the researchers divided 63 participants between the ages of 23–53 into three groups: one received cognitive-behavioral interventions, one received cognitive-behavioral interventions and 12 therapeutic sessions of hypnotherapy, and the last received neither.

The researchers concluded that participants receiving cognitive-behavioral interventions coupled with hypnotherapy showed a significant improvement in mood, as well as decreased levels of depression and anxiety.

They state, “Overall, our findings suggest that the combination of cognitive-behavioral and hypnotherapy models is a highly viable treatment in the case of anxiety disorders.”

This study examined the effects of a cognitive-hypnotic-imagery approach (CHI), cognitive restructuring (CR), and hypnosis only (HO) treatments on neuro-muscular performance, muscular growth, reduction of anxiety, and enhancement of self-concept. Thirty-two volunteer male weightlifters served as subjects for the study. Eight subjects were randomly assigned to each of four treatment conditions conducted over a four-week period.

The CHI group showed statistically significant treatment effects over the other groups on all six dependent variables.

The CHI group was statistically superior to all other conditions.

It appears that combining hypnotic relaxation and imagery with cognitive restructuring enhances both the immediate and long-range effects of treatment.

Although several studies have demonstrated that motor imagery can enhance learning processes and improve motor performance, little is known about its effect on stretching and flexibility. The increased active and passive range of motion reported in preliminary research has not been shown to be elicited by motor imagery training alone. We thus compared flexibility scores in 21 synchronized swimmers before and after a 5-week mental practice program that included five stretching exercises in active and passive conditions. The imagery training program resulted in selective increased flexibility, independently of the stretching method.

Overall, the improvement in flexibility was greater in the imagery group than in the control group for the front split (F(1,18) = 4.9, P = 0.04), the hamstrings (F(1,18) = 5.2, P = 0.035), and the ankle stretching exercises (F(1,18) = 5.6, P = 0.03). There was no difference in shoulders and side-split flexibility (F(1,18) = 0.1, P = 0.73 and F(1,18) = 3.3, P = 0.08 respectively). Finally, there was no correlation between individual imagery ability and improvement in flexibility. Psychological and physiological effects of motor imagery could explain the increase in range of motion, suggesting that imagery enhances joint flexibility during both active and passive stretching.

An estimated 45% of adults report dental fear as a reason for avoiding dental treatment. 

In this case study, the researcher explores the effect of hypnotherapy in treating the dental phobia experienced by a 31-year-old woman. 

The first session revealed that the participant’s dental phobia was rooted in her fear of pain and mistrust towards doctors. 

In the second session, desensitization therapy was administered to allow the participant to overcome fears contributing to dental phobia (such as her fear of needles). 

In the third and last session, hypnotic interventions such as visualization, ego-strengthening, and posthypnotic suggestions were induced. 

The researcher concluded that there was a “significant reduction in her dental anxiety,” revealing that the client’s post-treatment scores were “consistent with someone who has no or little anxiety, fear or phobia of dental treatment.”