Music Therapy

There’s a reason why your dentist offers you headphones playing your favorite music while filling a cavity— music therapy can reduce pain and associated anxiety and depression, especially when you get to choose the tunes. Thankfully, these effects also apply to chronic pain.

But how does music actually reduce pain? The most popular hypothesis is based on pain perception and the descending pain modulatory system (DPMS), a group of brain structures that interacts with nociceptors and influences how we feel pain. Interestingly, the DPMS is often altered in adults with chronic pain conditions. But it can be impacted by our expectations of pain, emotions, mood, neurotransmitter pathways, genetics and... music. While theoretical, it is highly likely that music-induced analgesia is the result of these interconnected parts of the brain [9].

For chronic pain relief, the type of music matters. The critical element for effective music therapy is based on your musical taste. Studies that examine music therapy list factors such as “high familiarity” and “selfchosen” when studying music’s effects. And these factors are connected to feelings of pleasure and a sense of control that may tap into the DPMS and dampen our experience of pain. So, whether you love Earth, Wind & Fire, Mozart, or you’re a hip-hop fan, listen to the music that you love to best address chronic pain.