Adding music to pain meds may reduce pain
As a complement to traditional pain relief tools like medication, listening to music may lessen acute or chronic pain related to cancer and other conditions, according to a new review.
"We have seen and observed this effect in multiple clinical settings such as medical hospitals and hospice-care facilities," said author Dr Jin Hyung Lee of Ewha Womans University in Seoul, South Korea.
"In addition to all the clinical trials investigating the effects of music interventions on pain, we are seeing an increase in the number of music therapists who work in the medical and hospice care settings," Dr Lee said. "Of course, these professionals work on a variety of clinical goals in addition to pain management, but it definitely is one of the major goals."
Dr Lee reviewed 97 randomised controlled trials conducted between 1995 and 2014 that included a total of 9,147 participants. Most trials involved music therapy, which typically involves interactions with a music therapist, while a handful of trials looked at music medicine, which mainly involves exposure to "prerecorded music experiences" selected for their effects, Dr Lee writes October 19 in the Journal of Music Therapy.
The trials...