FWD:Dog helps patients cope with pain

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From: byrd45 (Original Message) Sent: 3/23/2007 5:03 PM



Dog helps patients cope with pain
March 7, 2007

By CYNTHIA HUBERT

McCLATCHY NEWSPAPERS

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Slowly, ever so carefully, Jacqueline Holmes made her way across the asphalt, her creaky arthritic knees fighting her all the way.

“Four weeks ago, I couldn’t do this,” she said, walking outside a therapy center at Kaiser Permanente hospital in Sacramento, Calif.


In her left hand, Holmes clutched a wooden cane. In her right, she held a short leash attached to Phoebe, an English springer spaniel that is a centerpiece of an outpatient Kaiser clinic for people with chronic pain.

Holmes has never been a “dog person,” she said. “But I am now. Phoebe is so warm and loving. When she’s around, I don’t focus so much on my pain.”

It is precisely that skill that makes Phoebe such a valuable part of the pain clinic’s team, said Laura Dammel, the physical therapist who lives and works with the dog.

For years, medical professionals have used specially trained “pet therapists” to cheer the elderly, uplift people who are depressed and inspire pediatric patients.

Studies have shown that physical contact with a pet can lower high blood pressure and improve survival rates following heart attacks.

More recently, evidence has suggested that pets can help people in unrelenting pain from back problems, traumatic injuries, arthritis and other illnesses. Contact with animals has been linked to the release of feel-good endorphins in the brain, and pet therapists also can motivate pain patients to stay active.

The National Institutes of Health is recruiting cancer patients for a study exploring the benefits of “animal assisted therapy” on pain.

Phoebe, who wears a blue vest and a nametag identifying her as a Kaiser staffer, delights both colleagues and visitors as she makes her way through Kaiser corridors.

“Her presence alone reduces the anxiety level around here,” Dammel said.

But it is in the pain clinic, where for five weeks patients learn to control their misery through exercise, nutrition and medication, where Phoebe truly shines.

During lectures, she patrols the room, allowing patients to reach out and pat her. She walks with them, keeping pace with even the slowest movers. She visits with each of them as they perform their stretching routines inside a gym. Occasionally patients reward her with treats they have purchased especially for her.

“Phoebe has an innate ability to identify someone who’s having a really bad day,” said Dammel. “She’ll snuggle up next to them or put her head in their lap. If someone’s having a good day, she’ll celebrate with them.

"Most of our patients don’t really understand at first why she’s here,” Dammel said.

But in short order, they figure it out.

On a recent morning, Kereen Kelley rubbed Phoebe’s ears as she and her classmates listened to Carly Simon’s “Haven’t Got Time for the Pain” on Dammel’s boom box.

“You walk in here in terrible pain,” said Kelley, who is suffering the effects of three failed back surgeries. “Then you see Phoebe, and you’re able to forget about it for awhile. She’s inspirational. She’s fun. She makes this program special.”