UPFRONT | Roundup PATIENT CARE Take 5 Music tunes out pain: study Music therapy decreases pain in patients recovering from spine surgery, com-pared to a control group of patients who received stand-ard postoperative care alone, according to results of a new study. The study, published in the American Journal of Or-thopedics, included a team of researchers from The Louis Armstrong Center for Music and Medicine and the Mount Sinai Department of Ortho-paedics. About 70 per cent of people in the United States experience at least one epi-sode of back pain in their lifetime, and more than five million are temporarily or permanently disabled by spinal disorders. “This study is unique in its quest to integrate music ther-apy in medicine to treat postsurgical pain,” said John Mondanaro, the study’s lead author and clinical director of The Louis Armstrong Department of Music Ther-apy. “Postoperative spine patients are at major risk for pain management chal-lenges.” Visual analog scale (VAS) pain ratings were collected before and after music ther-apy in the experimental group and within the same time period in the control group. In the control group, VAS pain levels increased slightly, from 5.20 to 5.87. In the experimental group, however, VAS pain levels decreased by more than one point, from 6.20 to 5.09. “The degree of change in the music group is notable for having been achieved by non-pharmacologic means with little chance of adverse effects,” said Joanne Loewy, co-author of the study and director of The Louis Arm-strong Center for Music and Medicine. “Pain is subjective and personal, and warrants an individualized approach to care. Certified, licensed music therapists are able to tailor treatment to each pa-tient’s musical preferences and meet their pain level.” Music therapists from the Louis Armstrong Center provided treatment options to each patient, including patient-preferred, live music that supported tension re-lease/relaxation and joint singing and/or rhythmic drumming. Breathwork and visualization techniques were also offered. Postoperative pain treat-ment, which is primarily pharmacologic, is a critical component of recovery, par-ticularly during the immedi-ate postoperative period, when pain and anxiety are prominently increased. For this study, researchers provided 30 spine surgery patients with a 30-minute music therapy session within 72 hours after surgery in addition to standard care. Another 30 spine surgery patients received standard postoperative care without music therapy. The 60 pa-tients ranged in age from 40 to 55 years and underwent anterior, posterior, or anteri-or-posterior spinal fusion. WHAT’S ONLINE Canadianchiropractor.ca Canadian Chiropractor offers a lot more content on its website. Check out some of these pages the next time you go online. Reporting on the latest developments in health care as well as trends in practice News Video Job board Looking to hire or want to make a career change? Check out the online job board for the latest opportunities or post your job for free. Watch short features, practice advice and event highlights from the video archive 8 Canadian Chiropractor May 2017 www.canadianchiropractor.ca Illustration: Brian Fray
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