Music and Medicine Leave a comment

Recuperating from a medical procedure may be less painful with music. A review of 14 studies involving patients who had listened to various types of music following surgery found that they tended to experience less discomfort and need less pain medication. The effects may be a result of “relaxation, distraction, or triggering the central nervous system to stop pain transmission,” speculates lead reviewer M. Soledad Cepeda, a faculty member of the department of anesthesia at Tufts-New England Medical School in Boston. Whether or not the participants were given the opportunity to choose the music they heard did not make a significant difference. Though the analgesic effect didn’t occur in all patients, Cepeda and his colleagues say that among those who experienced it, the pain relief seems to be comparable to that provided by about 325 milligrams of regular Tylenol, or half the standard recommended adult dose.?