The following is a summary of “Impact of Varied Music Applications on Pain Perception and Situational Pain Catastrophizing,” published in the July 2023 issue of Pain by Colebaugh et al.

Researchers assessed the variances in pain processing and situational pain catastrophizing among two music interventions (Unwinding and favorite music) and a control condition (white noise). About 70 individuals in good health participated in a quantitative sensory testing (QST) study to assess various aspects of pain. These included measuring the pressure pain threshold (PPTh) and tolerance (PPTol), heat pain threshold (HPTh), offset analgesia (OA), temporal summation of pain (TSP), and conditioned pain modulation (CPM). The subjects underwent three rounds of Quantitative Sensory Testing (QST) while being exposed to white noise (control condition), a relaxation music application (Unwind), and their preferred music.

The order of presentation was randomized. The situational pain catastrophizing scale was assessed following each iteration. Friedman and post hoc Wilcoxon signed-rank tests were employed to determine pain processing and catastrophizing across the three conditions in a medical context. The participants’ pain pressure thresholds (PPTh), pain pressure tolerances (PPTol), and heat pain thresholds (HPTh) exhibited a statistically significant increase during the favorite music condition in comparison to the other two conditions. This suggests a decreased sensitivity to pain while engaging in the act of listening to favorite music. On the contrary, osteoarthritis (OA) exhibited a decrease in prevalence in the condition involving preferred music. Although thermal sensory perception (TSP) and cold pain modulation (CPM) were induced by the quantitative sensory testing (QST) paradigm, there were no significant differences observed in these measures across the three experimental conditions. 

Situational pain catastrophizing exhibited a notable decrease during the preferred music intervention. Various indicators of pain sensitivity and situational pain catastrophizing decreased when individuals were exposed to their select music in contrast to relaxing music or white noise. Further investigation is required to ascertain the mechanism(s) through which music influences pain processing. This article shows that participant-selected preferred music can modify various aspects of nociceptive processing, including catastrophic ideation regarding pain, compared to white noise or soothing music. Utilizing an individual’s preferred music during episodic or procedural pain episodes may be a cost-effective supplementary analgesic approach.

Source: sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S1526590023000147