What music would you listen to for pain reduction?
A recent study published in the journal Frontiers in Pain Research has unveiled the therapeutic potential of music in alleviating pain.
Conducted at McGill University’s Roy Pain Laboratory in Canada, the research involved 63 healthy young adults. These participants experienced a controlled sensation akin to a hot cup of coffee against their skin through a specialised device on their left arm.
During this sensory experience, individuals were exposed to various auditory stimuli: their favourite songs, pre-selected relaxing music, scrambled sounds, and moments of silence. Following each segment, participants were prompted to assess the pain’s intensity and discomfort.
The results were striking. Participants reported significantly reduced pain intensity when listening to their preferred tracks, in stark contrast to moments of silence or exposure to jumbled sounds. Interestingly, the prescribed relaxing music did not yield a similar pain-relieving effect.
Darius Valevicius, one of the study’s authors, compared the pain reduction achieved through favourite music to that of a common over-the-counter pain reliever like Advil, approximating a one-point improvement on a ten-point pain scale.
He further suggested that emotionally evocative music might exert an even more potent influence on participants. This groundbreaking study sheds light on music’s remarkable potential as a non-pharmacological means of pain management.
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