We asked Jarran, our Music Therapist, to share his clinical experience of how Music Therapy can benefit individuals experiencing acute or chronic pain.
We have all experienced pain in one way or another at some point in our lives. You might know pain as a fleeting headache. But you might also know pain as a chronic condition that can make our lives unbearable, limit our ability to interact with others and limit our potential in life.
While music therapy is not intended as a substitute for traditional pain relief methods, the support that music can provide in those moments can be profound as a complementary approach to dealing with and lessening pain.
From my experience as a Music Therapist, I have seen music change the lives of participants in some of their darkest hours, providing them with the outlet to lower their stress levels, divert their attention from pain, and, in some cases, express the narrative around their pain and re-frame and integrate their relationship to their pain.
But What is Pain?
Pain is not reduced to something that you feel in your body. It’s a multi-dimensional experience that involves both the body and the mind. So, while pain serves to warn us and guard us against physical injury, chronic pain can linger - even after an injury has gone.
This pain can lead to many challenges, from sleep disturbance to emotional distress and even the development of additional physical symptoms.
How can Music Therapy help manage pain?
Diversion: Music is one of the prime examples of flow state that can help captivate our attention and allow us to take a break from focusing on our pain - even if only for the time we are listening. By engaging with music, we can immerse ourselves in the present moment, taking a much-needed respite from our pain
Relaxation: Through different modalities, we can use music to lower our sympathetic nervous system’s response – reducing stress levels and increasing feelings of comfort. The emotions we feel in pain can sometimes heighten our sensations and cause us to fixate on the literal ‘thorn in our side’. Through techniques such as Music and Imagery, Guided relaxation, and simply listening to our favourite songs in a thoughtfully composed playlist, we can let the body lower its’ arousal levels and send messages to the nervous system that it’s okay to relax and heal.
Movement: In times of injury and throughout the healing process, our body can seize, muscles atrophy and fascia tighten. If you have ever been through the healing process, you might have been recommended to keep the injured body part moving (after a certain amount of rest) to retain that range of motion and increase blood flow. This can be because staying in that immobile state can lead to longer healing times and further complications.
But here’s the thing…
It’s painful to move when you’re healing, and multiple studies have asked the question: Why is there low adherence to prescribed rehabilitation protocols?
This is where music can be so beneficial. It can encourage us to move our bodies and promote engagement in rehabilitation programs to loosen adhesions, promote our range of motion, and support the healing process.
Emotional Expression: Sometimes, our pain can be all-encompassing, leaving us feeling trapped in our bodies and cycles of discomfort. Through Music Therapy, we can release those pent-up emotions, allowing us to process and express what we are feeling safely and creatively.
Whether this means writing a song about your struggles and your journey through pain, achieving catharsis through singing your favourite songs at the top of your lungs, or simply being still, and letting the music wash over and move you - the emotional expression music can give you can be powerful.
What does the Evidence say?
In our modern world filled with cutting-edge technology and advanced medicine, it’s easy to overlook the role music therapy can provide, yet research consistently highlights how impactful music therapy can be on patients in managing pain.
Have you ever had eye surgery? Me neither.
Yet, the thought alone is enough to have me running for the hills. And that’s what a recent study has found: the participants who listened to music during their procedures had significantly lower anxiety and pain scores than those who didn’t. It’s almost as though music is there to hold your hand when things get tough – so much so patients' blood pressure even dipped slightly.
This is acute pain, but what about chronic pain?
Fibromyalgia and arthritis are two conditions noted for their intense – and persistent – discomfort. These two chronic states have also been studied and have been shown to respond positively to music therapy. Success was also shown with children through programs such as ”Songs of Love”, which helped young patients manage their pain and navigate what for a child must seem like an eternity of pain.
While I could go on, the purpose here isn’t to give you a meta-analysis on the efficacy of music therapy but to highlight the growing body of evidence supporting the use of music in pain management.
Conclusion
Pain, both acute and chronic, can be an isolating and overwhelming condition to live with. Music Therapy can help promote relaxation, increase engagement in rehabilitation, and help transform pain experiences through diversional activities, increasing the motivation to move and to reframe and own your journey and narrative around your pain.
If you or a loved one are dealing with pain, consider exploring music therapy as a complementary approach to your pain management plan. At Hessel Group, our qualified music therapists are dedicated to supporting individuals on their journey towards relief and improved well-being.
We work closely with healthcare providers and community organisations to offer personalised music therapy services. Reach out to us today to learn more about how we can help you incorporate music therapy into your pain management strategy. Taking that first step could be the key to unlocking a more holistic path to healing.