Nurse Rod Salaysay works with all kinds of instruments at the hospital: a thermometer, a stethoscope and sometimes his guitar and ukulele.
In the recovery unit at UC San Diego Health, Salaysay helps patients manage pain after surgery. In addition to medication, he offers tunes on request and sometimes sings. Her repertoire ranges from folk songs in English and Spanish to the G major minuet and movie favorites like “Somewhere Over the Rainbow.”
Patients often smile or nod their heads. Salaysay even sees changes in their vital signs, like a drop in heart rate and blood pressure, and some may require fewer painkillers.
“There’s often a cycle of worry, pain and anxiety in a hospital,” he said, “but you can help break that cycle with music. »
Salaysay is a one-man band, but he is not alone. Over the past two decades, concerts and recorded music have flocked to hospitals and doctors’ offices as research mounts on how songs can help relieve pain.
The healing power of singing may seem intuitive given music’s deep roots in human culture. But the science of whether and how music alleviates acute and chronic pain — technically called music-induced analgesia — is catching up.
No one suggests that a catchy song can completely eliminate intense pain. But several recent studies, including in the journals Pain and Scientific Reports, suggest that listening to music can either reduce the perception of pain or improve a person’s ability to tolerate it.
What seems most important is that patients – or their families – choose the musical selections themselves and listen to them attentively, not just as background noise.
“Pain is a really complex experience,” said Adam Hanley, a psychologist at Florida State University. “It is created by a physical sensation, as well as our thoughts about that sensation and our emotional reaction to it.”
Two people suffering from the same illness or injury may experience very different levels of acute or chronic pain. Or the same person may experience pain differently from one day to the next.
Acute pain is felt when pain receptors in a specific part of the body – such as a hand touching a hot stove – send signals to the brain, which processes the pain in the short term. Chronic pain usually involves long-term structural or other changes in the brain that increase overall sensitivity to pain signals. Researchers are still studying how this happens.
“Pain is interpreted and translated by the brain,” which can increase or decrease the signal, said Dr. Gilbert Chandler, a chronic spinal pain specialist at Tallahassee Orthopedic Clinic.
Researchers know that music can distract attention from pain, dulling the sensation. But studies also suggest that listening to favorite music reduces pain more than listening to podcasts.
“Music is a distraction. It takes your attention away from the pain. But it does more than that,” said Caroline Palmer, a psychologist at McGill University who studies music and pain.
Scientists are still tracing the different neural pathways at work, Palmer said.
“We know that almost the entire brain becomes active when we engage in music,” said Kate Richards Geller, a licensed music therapist in Los Angeles. “It changes the perception and experience of pain, as well as the isolation and anxiety related to pain.”
The idea of using recorded music to ease the pain associated with dental surgery originated in the late 19th century, before local anesthetics were available. Today, researchers are studying what conditions make music most effective.
Researchers at Erasmus University Rotterdam in the Netherlands conducted a study of 548 participants to see how listening to five genres of music – classical, rock, pop, urban and electronic – increased their ability to resist acute pain, as measured by exposure to very cold temperatures.
All music helped, but there was no winning genre.
“The more people listened to their favorite genre, the more pain they could bear,” said co-author Dr. Emy van der Valk Bouman. “Many people thought classical music would help them more. In fact, we’re finding more and more evidence that the best thing is simply the music you love.”
The exact reasons aren’t yet clear, but it could be because familiar songs activate more memories and emotions, she said.
The simple act of choosing is powerful in itself, said Claire Howlin, director of the music and health psychology laboratory at Trinity College Dublin, who co-authored a study suggesting that allowing patients to select songs improved their pain tolerance.
“It’s something that people can have control over if they have a chronic illness: it gives them power to act,” she said.
Active and targeted listening also seems important.
Hanley, the Florida State psychologist, co-authored a preliminary study suggesting that daily attentive listening could reduce chronic pain.
“Music has the power to light up different parts of the brain,” he said, “so you give people that positive emotional boost that takes their mind away from pain.”
It is a simple prescription with no side effects, some doctors now say.
Cecily Gardner, a jazz singer from Culver City, Calif., said she used music to help her overcome a serious illness and sang for friends struggling with pain.
“Music reduces stress, promotes community,” she said, “and just transports you to a better place.” »
___
The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Department of Science Education and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. The AP is solely responsible for all content.
