even 10 minutes with a dog can reduce pain, anxiety

whether pain actually decreased, or people were just distracted, therapy dogs seem to have the power to make us feel better when it matters the most.

by maija kappler

published mar 11, 2022

3 minute read

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3 minute read

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even 10 minutes with a dog can reduce pain, anxiety

animal-assisted therapy has been shown to help people in painful or stressful situations. getty

in case we needed more proof that dogs are amazing, a new canadian study just found that spending even a very short time with therapy dogs can reduce pain in emergency room patients in a way that’s “clinically significant.” “there is research showing that pets are an important part of our health in different ways. they motivate us, they get us up, (give us) routines, the human-animal bond,” lead study author colleen dell of the university of saskatchewan told cnn.

the study looked at nearly 200 patients in the er at saskatoon’s royal university hospital. the patients rated their levels of pain, anxiety, depression and general well-being on a scale from one to ten, both before and after a 10-minute visit with a therapy dog from st. john ambulance. a control group who didn’t visit with the dogs also rated their well-being.

dogs make everything better

researchers found that 41 per cent of the patients who spent time with the dogs reported an improvement in their general well-being. the more specific markers were even more impressive: 43 per cent felt less pain, 46 per cent said their depression had improved, and 48 per cent were less anxious.

“we’re excited to release these really solid findings and hopefully do more studies on this to understand more of the why,” dell told the canadian press. “i really see this as a pivotal point.”

the next step is understanding why dogs are so helpful when it comes to pain relief, she added, explaining that it’s possible the patients were distracted from their pain when they spent time with the dogs, or that their perception of their pain changed.

“there’s also biological markers like cortisol — you have these feel-good, happy moments when you’re petting the dog — so something could be happening there as well,” she says.

animal-assisted therapy has been shown to help people in painful or stressful situations, according to the mayo clinic, including people with dementia, veterans with ptsd, people living in long-term care, or children going to the dentist. and it isn’t just the patient who benefits: friends and family members who sit in on animal therapy report that they often feel better afterwards, too.

a one-horse wonder

while dogs are the most common therapy animals, they’re not the only ones. last year, photos went viral of a horse comforting cancer patients in calais, france. the horse, peyo, and his trainer hassen bouchakour, are working with scientists who study therapy animals.

it seems that peyo can detect tumours and cancer in humans, bouchakour told the guardian. “i accompany him but i let him do what he wants, he’s the one who decides,” he said. “what really pushed scientists to take an interest in him and open the health establishment doors to us, was this [seeming] ability to greatly reduce [the patients’ dosage of] all hard drugs and thus allow a more peaceful departure.”

hospital staff also like seeing the horse, who’s been nicknamed dr. peyo.

“hassen and peyo are part of the team, they are not only good for the patients but for us too,” palliative care nurse anne sophie told the paper. “when it is hard, we are happy to know they are here.”

maija kappler is a reporter and editor at healthing. you can reach her at mkappler@postmedia.com

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