Body awareness and cognitive behavioral therapy for multisite musculoskeletal pain: patients` experiences with group rehabilitation.

Background: An extended group program called Mind and Body (MB), based on body awareness exercises and cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT), was offered to a subgroup of patients who had completed their traditional outpatient multidisciplinary rehabilitation and were motivated for further treatment.

Purpose: To explore how patients with multisite musculoskeletal pain experienced participation in the MB program with respect to usefulness, meaningfulness, behavioral changes, and transferability to daily life and work.

Method: The study is rooted in the phenomenological tradition. Individual, semi-structured interviews were performed with eight patients aged 29-56 years. The data were analyzed using systematic text condensation.

Results: Two main themes emerged: 1) New knowledge provided increased body awareness, new ways of thinking, and acceptance of one's own situation. This theme reflected how new knowledge and MB coping strategies were useful in the process of changing problematic thoughts, increasing body awareness, and facilitating acceptance; and 2) Implementing new habits and strategies in daily life revealed how demanding it was to alter behavior, a process that unfolded over time.

Conclusion: A combination of body awareness exercises and cognitive coping strategies was described as helpful in further improving function and coping with pain and stress in daily life and work.