Positioning & Other Tools

One of the earliest published interventions was a study from 1984 that suggested positioning patients in the prone position (on their stomach) with their eyes facing out of the MRI bore along with covering the patient’s eyes as a simple solution for anxiety10​​ This intervention was tested and all patients who used this intervention were able to complete the exam without claustrophobic symptoms10. While this intervention proved effective, not every patient can be positioned in this manner, as it depends on​​ the​​ body part​​ is​​ being scanned and/or the patient’s physical limitations. For example, patients receiving head MRIs cannot be positioned face down. This position may actually exacerbate anxiety as it restricts breathing, which is important in controlling anxiety57. Likewise, some patients may not able to comfortably hold this position due to physical restrictions such as having a large body habitus, injury, or illness. In short, although effective, this intervention may only help a limited number of anxious patients. That being said, this study did demonstrate that enabling patients to see outside of the bore was useful in reducing MRI anxiety and subsequently contributed to the creation of another intervention with the same concept10.