Written by Jessica Patella, ND. Relative to the control group, patients with fibromyalgia found that music therapy reduced their perception of pain.
Fibromyalgia is a chronic pain syndrome that is characterized by pain and tender points throughout the entire body 1,2. Fibromyalgia affects an estimated 4 million Americans and the exact cause is still unknown 2. Recent research has found that listening to relaxing music decreased the pain in fibromyalgia patients 1.
Fibromyalgia is twice as likely to occur in women and additional symptoms may include: fatigue, exhaustion, waking up tired in the morning, morning stiffness, soft tissue swelling, tremors, excessive sweating, chronic headaches and increased symptoms with stress and anxiety 1,2. Current treatments include medication, stress reduction, physical exercise, good sleeping habits and cognitive therapy. Recently music therapy has been suggested as an additional option for fibromyalgia 1.
The research included 37 fibromyalgia outpatients (average age 43.59 years; 96% female) that were randomly divided into the music group (n=21) and a control group (n=16) 1. The participants in the music group received a CD with sounds of water and waves, while the control group did not receive any music. The music group listened to the CD twice a day for 25 minutes, once in the morning and once in the evening, while relaxing in a comfortable chair 1.
Participants recorded their results based on the visual analog scale on day 1, 7 and 14 1. The visual analog results were as follows:
| Day 1 | Day 7 | Day 14 | Significance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Music Group | 5.45 +/- 2.73 | 4.57 +/- 2.71 | 4.14 +/- 2.45 | P=0.026 |
| Control Group | 6.25 +/- 2.41 | 5.68 +/- 3.28 | 5.40 +/- 3.11 | Not significant |
These results show a significant reduction in pain in the music group 1. It is thought that music therapy provides relaxation by affecting the autonomic nervous system 1,3.
In conclusion, music therapy was shown to be beneficial in reducing perceived pain in patients with fibromyalgia compared to the control group 1. Researchers feel that music therapy should be recommended as a non-pharmaceutical approach to fibromyalgia patients and a larger study should be conducted to confirm results 1.
Source: Alparslan, Güler Balcı, Burcu Babadağ, Ayşe Özkaraman, Pınar Yıldız, Ahmet Musmul, and Cengiz Korkmaz. “Effects of music on pain in patients with fibromyalgia.” Clinical rheumatology 35, no. 5 (2016): 1317-1321.
© International League of Associations for Rheumatology (ILAR) 2015
Posted March 23, 2018.
References:
- Alparslan GB, Babadağ B, Özkaraman A, Yıldız P, Musmul A, Korkmaz C. Effects of music on pain in patients with fibromyalgia. Clinical rheumatology. 2016;35(5):1317-1321.
- Prevention CfDCa. Fibromyalgia. 2017; Overview of fibromyalgia. Available at: https://www.cdc.gov/arthritis/basics/fibromyalgia.htm. Accessed March 21, 2018, 2018.
- Krout RE. Music listening to facilitate relaxation and promote wellness: Integrated aspects of our neurophysiological responses to music. The arts in Psychotherapy. 2007;34(2):134-141.
