Researchers from Israel and the United States have shown that music therapy can eliminate postoperative pain in patients with spinal diseases more effectively than medications.
According to statistics, in the United States alone, more than five million people suffer from spinal diseases. In some cases, they require surgical intervention, but often such operations are complicated by specific pains: the afferent pathways of nociception pass through the spinal cord. Such patients are forced to additionally undergo a course of rehabilitation, which includes taking analgesics, monitoring respiratory function and neurovascular status. Moreover, against the background of pain, anxiety may increase, depression and hypochondria may develop. Therefore, in addition to medical care, people who have undergone spinal surgery often need psychological help.
Music therapy is considered as one of the areas of such assistance that can influence postoperative rehabilitation. It consists in the controlled listening or performance of various musical compositions in order to express and modulate emotional states. Past research has shown that regular listening to music can also reduce anxiety and pain. However, the possibilities of music therapy in the rehabilitation of patients with spinal diseases have not been studied enough. In addition, it is unclear if the effect is different from using live music and audio recordings.
In the new work, specialists from the Mount Sinai Medical Center and the Louis Armstrong Music Center conducted an experiment with 60 patients who underwent anterior, posterior, or combined fusion (fusion of the vertebrae with a graft). The authors divided the volunteers into two groups: within 72 hours after surgery, both received standard care. In addition, the participants in the experimental group underwent an individual 30-minute session of music therapy, during which they listened to live compositions, sang and tapped out rhythms for relaxation or catharsis, and also practiced breathing visualization and control under the guidance of psychotherapists.
Subjective pain level before and after the experiment in the control and experimental groups / © John F. Mondanaro et al., The American Journal of Orthopedics, 2017
Then, all subjects rated pain on a ten-point scale, filled out the kinesiophobia (fear of movement) scale, depression and anxiety scales. The results showed that after a session of music therapy, the subjective level of pain in the experimental group decreased on average by more than one point (from 6.20 to 5.09) compared to the beginning of the experiment. In the control group, the indicator at the time of testing increased: from 5.20 to 5.87 points. The levels of anxiety, depression and kinesiophobia in both groups changed insignificantly. According to the authors, it was possible to achieve improvements in the experimental group, among other things, thanks to a personalized approach.
“Pain is a subjective and personal phenomenon and requires an individual attitude. Certified, licensed music therapists can tailor the treatment program to the patient's preferences and pain experience,”said study co-author Joanne Loewy.
Article contributed in The American Journal of Orthopedics.
Promotional video:
Denis Strigun