Introduction:

Pain is a complex symptom with many causes leading to disability, deterioration in quality of life, and high expenditure for the health system. Mindfulness strategies are a therapeutic alternative for pain.

Objective:

To review the evidence on the use of mindfulness for the management of pain.

Methods:

A literature search and selection was carried out in Cochrane, Embase, SciELO, Pubmed, Ebsco, Lilacs, BMJ, Scopus and ScienceDirect databases, limited to English and Spanish languages, published between 2010 and 2020.

Results:

We included 55 papers and determined that the evidence in acute pain is non-conclusive, although some studies find positive results. There is a significant positive effect on pain in centrally sensitized diseases. In chronic oncological pain there is no evidence on pain reduction, but there is evidence of a positive impact on quality of life. In children and teenagers, lack of maturity of the central nervous system seems like the cause of the lack of effect of these interventions.

Conclusions:

Mindfulness-based interventions are safe and have a beneficial effect on chronic non-oncological pain in adults. They can play an adjunctive role in usual treatment. Research is required in acute pain and pain in children and adolescents.

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