Science has once again served up a hefty dose of good news, revealing research that claims listening to music can reduce surgical pain.
How often have you found yourself needing to undergo a medical procedure, only to be frightened by the potential pain involved? Well, now it seems that science has research to back the notion of music serving as an effective painkiller.
Back in 2017, we noted how a former Nokia researcher had teamed up with the folks at MIT Media Lab to try and get music to replace prescription drugs. While the concept almost seems laughable on paper, it looks like there’s some actual merit to this theory.
As Neuroscience News reports, researchers at the University of Utah Health have discovered that pairing music with various pain medications offers up a “promising” strategy in treating pain.
The study saw researchers use mice subjected to two pain models, one which mimicked inflammatory pain, and one that mimicked surgical pain. After separating the mice, a control group was exposed to only ambient noise, while the others listened to three-hour segments of Mozart music for three weeks.
So what did they find? Well, researchers noted that pairing music with those in the inflammation pain model saw pain responses reduced by 93 percent, while music and cannabidiol reduced swelling by 21 and 9 percent.
However, the most interesting of these finding happens to be those who were subjected to just music alone, with a 77 percent decrease in pain noted by mice in the surgical pain model.
“We know these drugs work without music but they can produce toxicity and adverse effects,” noted associate professor in Medicinal Chemistry, Grzegorz Bulaj, Ph.D. “The holy grail is to combine the right drug with this new paradigm of music exposure, so we do not need as much drug for analgesic effects.”
Of course, it’s noted that the effect of such musical treatment on humans may be quite different due to our inability to hear the same frequencies as mice, it is indeed a positive step forward in the treatment of pain.
“If we could package music and other nonpharmacological therapies into mobile apps and deliver them with drugs and it works, it will be better than drugs alone,” Bulaj added. “It is exciting to find new ways to improve pain treatments.”
While this news is indeed rather exciting, it seems that Bob Marley was way ahead of the game. After all, his 1971 song ‘Trench Town Rock’ noted, “One good thing about music, when it hits you, you feel no pain.”
Check out Bob Marley & The Wailers’ ‘Trench Town Rock’:
