If you have been considering getting a dog, add pain management to your list of reasons. According to a study in the journal of Pain Medicine, a therapy dog is a new addition to the pain management team.  According to Dr. Marcus who writes the well know migraine.com blog, “Therapy dogs have been trained to be quiet, calm, and soothing. Therapy dogs undergo extensive training and testing before they can be certified for therapy work. Typical therapy dogs' work involves the dog standing by or sitting with a patient and getting petted. It may not sound like this is much therapy, but studies have proven spending time with a therapy dog produces measureable reductions in stress levels and the body’s stress chemicals.”

So, maybe your dog won’t be a trained and perfectly well-behaved “Therapy Dog” but, your own pooch could become a beneficial part of a healthier lifestyle. Dog’s live on a schedule, when to eat, sleep, and exercise and as the owner you are generally responsible for making it all happen.  Here is a bit of evidence that Dr. Marcus included in her blog, the information comes from her books she has written; Fit as Fido: Follow Your Dog to Better Health and A Doctor’s Guide to Dog Therapy and Healing: The Power of Wagging Tails.

• Petting a dog actually reduces pain severity: In an experiment reported in the journal of Complimentary Therapies in Clinical Practice, researchers found that pain levels in hospital patients dropped by one-third after spending 15 minutes petting one of the dogs trained and approved to visit hospital patients. Another study found patients reduced their use of pain killers by nearly half when they had regular dog visits.

• Aerobic exercise helps reduce migraine pain and dogs are great exercise motivators. People who own dogs consistently have been shown to complete more regular, healthy aerobic exercise than folks without a dog. Excuses like bad weather, extra laundry, etc may work for you and your human walking partner, but no pooch will stand for this nonsense.  And when it’s time for the daily walk and you get the big “puppy eyes look” you will likely get out there and exercise.

• Stress is the number one migraine trigger for most people and dogs are terrific stress busters. Petting a dog lowers your heart rate, decreases your blood pressure, and reduces your body’s stress response. It’s not the stress itself that triggers a migraine; it’s your body’s physiological response to stress.

• Skipping meals and getting dehydrated can trigger migraines. When breakfast time comes for the dog, do you ever hear him say he doesn’t have time for breakfast?  Dog’s don’t skip meals and neither should you. Dogs do a great job of taking advantage of drinks throughout the day as well, lapping up water from their dish, rain water off the street, or snacking on snow.  Not that you should drink street water, but keeping yourself hydrated is a great way to keep migraines in check.

• One last way to combat migraines that your furry friend can help with is your sleep schedule.  Most people need 7-8 hours of sleep each night. Dogs are great role models for good sleep and will most likely remind you when it is bedtime (I know mine know when it is time).

If you still are unsure, here is more proof, Dr. Serpell at the Department of Clinical Veterinary Medicine in Cambridge evaluated new pet owners and people without pets for the occurrence of what were called “minor” health problems, which includes headaches.  While there were no changes in non-pet owners, minor health problems dropped 50% after just one month of adding a dog to the household.  So if you have been on the fence about bringing home that new addition to the house, this information may be the piece to help you make that decision.