The latest study reveals that people suffering from chronic pain may obtain some relief by listening to music for at least one hour daily.
Research published in June’s Journal of Advanced Nursing discovers that adults who suffer from chronic pain observed less pain, depression, and disability and felt more empowered after one week of listening to music for an hour daily.
According to the research, it didn’t matter what kind of music they listened to.
The research was conducted by two researchers from Cleveland: Sandra Siedliecki, PhD, RN, CNS, of The Cleveland Clinic, and Marion Good, PhD, RN, FAAN, of Case Western Reserve University.
Coping With Chronic Pain
Sixty black or white adults suffering from chronic pain participated in the research. The patients lived in Ohio, and were in their late 40s or early 50s, on average. None of them had cancer, cognitive impairment, or had an altered mental status (having hallucinations, delusions, or confusion).
All of the participants had had chronic pain for at least past six months. For some of them, pain had continued for several years. They were recruited to the research from pain clinics and a chiropractic office.
Almost all of them said they felt pain in multiple body areas. Among the most common places in which they felt pain were: the lower back, legs, knee joints, and feet.
Almost three-quarters of the participants said they didn’t remember or know what started their pain. More than half said they had never received a diagnosis concerning their pain. Of those who had a pain-related diagnosis, the most common pain-related diagnosis was osteoarthritis.
Tuning in to Turn Down Pain
The scientists divided the participants into three groups.
Patients in the first group choose their favorite music or nature sounds to listen to for an hour every day. They could choose beat tunes or slower sounds - whatever they were interested in.
Patients in the second group picked from relaxing instrumental music provided by the investigators. For comparison, patients in the third group were not asked to listen to music in the course of the research.
The scientists gave tape players and headsets to both music groups to use during the experiment. The whole procedure lasted for one week.
Before and after the research, patients rated their pain, depression, disability, and feelings of power to introduce some changes in their lives.
The research revealed that in all of those categories, average scores improved for both music groups, but not for the comparison group - and those changes didn’t appear to be due to chance.
Soothing Sounds
Below, there are details concerning the improvements that can be seen in the music groups’ surveys:
* Average pain ratings decreased by about 20%.
* Average depression scores decreased by up to 25%.
* Average self-rated disability was reduced by up to 18%.
* Feelings of empowerment increased by up to 8%.
Did it matter whether the patients chose their own music? Perhaps not. The research reveals that any differences between the two music groups’ average improvements may have been accidental.
The kind of music apparently didn’t matter, either. "A variety of different music selections and styles, some with lyrics and some without, were discovered to be effective in this research," the scientists report.
Addition to Pain Therapy
The investigators are not indicating that music can totally remove pain, and they’re not indicating that it as a replacement for traditional pain care. But music might constitute a harmless addition to treatment, the study proves.
"Music is secure, inexpensive, and easy for nurses to teach patients to use it," says Siedliecki and Good. They remind that nurses can help patients find and use music to help cope with chronic, nonmalignant pain. According to the scientists, in doing so, nurses ought to be very sensitive to patients’ musical preferences.
It is not exactly known how music helped the patients cope with chronic pain. It is also unclear if the rest they got while listening to the music made a difference.
