Therapy Dogs Actually Reduce Pain In Emergency Rooms, Finds Study

Do you believe that dogs are a human being's best friends? A new study published on Wednesday claims that affection from dogs could actually be beneficial in dealing with pain for us... to the extent of being medicinal.

According to lead author of the study, Colleen Dell, University of Saskatchewan, dogs not only "motivate us" but also give us "routines" and the "human-animal bond" that may help in controlling ailments.

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More contact with dogs equals lesser pain

Published in the journal PLOS One, the study took into account 200 patients in the emergency room who were asked to report their pain on a scale of 1 to 10 (10 signifying highest intensity of pain). A group of patients received the company of dogs while the other group did not get any intervention. Those who spent just 10 minutes of time with a therapy dog reported lower level of pain, the study claims.

Also read:?Your Pet Dogs Can Now Call You With 'DogPhone' Technology

What does this study imply, you wonder? Quite simply, it means that now we can stop asking whether therapy dogs are actually helpful but instead devise methods to maximise the services of dogs in hospitals and healthcare centres.

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For those worried about the risk of catching diseases from dogs in a hospital set up, the study's lead author Dell told CNN that there are ways for healthcare workers to sanitise the dogs before they enter a hospital.

Also read:?Yikes! US Company Has Built A Killer Robot Dog With An Attached Rifle

The study's authors also claim that being around a dog when you're in a lot of physical pain can not only help lessen the severity of the pain but also provide optimism for both patients and healthcare workers alike. This may be especially beneficial in the backdrop of Covid-19 pandemic when healthcare workers have been performing overtime in life-threatening conditions.

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Do you have a private doggo of your own who helps you deal with pain in your day-to-day life? Let us know in the comments below.?

For more in the world of?technology?and?science, keep reading?Indiatimes.com.

References

Holcombe, M. C. (2022, March 9). Affection from a dog really is medicinal, according to a new study. CNN.?

Carey, B. (2022, March 9). Outcomes of a controlled trial with visiting therapy dog teams on pain in adults in an emergency department. PLOS One.?