Music Heals World Music Day (‘Music Therapy’ – a savior in pain management )

Music plays a pivotal part since the human evolution and has largely contributed to the growth of a society. Music travels with human since birth until death. It has its role in making the child to sleep, also sending off the soul after completing its journey in this eternal earth. In both cases, neither the child enjoys the music with the knowledge of ragas nor the dead one happily shows bye to this world. But music has its own impact.

It is culturally universal and is a means of expression of feelings and emotions. It is a well believed that music can bring rain, rise and shine as well. History traces itself over 1500 years back, where music has been used as a therapy by the Indians, Arabs, Greeks and Chinese. In the Egyptian civilization, musical songs have always been used for healing amongst the sick. In addition to the medicines prescribed, music has always the charm to let one stay calm and composed. Music therapy was recognizably first used by the United States War Department in 1945 to help the military service members recovering in the Army hospitals with occupational therapy, education, and recreational reconditioning.

Music therapy is now an emerging concept that is used to address the physical, emotional, cognitive, and social needs of a group or individual. People of all backgrounds can respond well to music. It involves the clinical use of music to help in stress reduction, mood enhancement and self-expression. Music is used to reduce a patient’s pain, offers them to express themselves without words and provides relaxation through singing, playing instruments and sometimes even composing. This therapy is suitable for all ages; even the deaf can feel the vibrations of the musical notes. Music therapy touches all aspects of the mind, body, soul, brain, and behavior. It provides as a distraction to the mind where it can restore balance in the body, alter one’s mood, which in turn is responsible for the overall behavior of a person. It also serves well for those who cope with trauma, suffering from mental illness and those with autism spectrum disorder.

Music therapy helps in treatment of variety of disorders including cardiac conditions, depression, autism, cancer, insomnia, and Alzheimer disease. It helps in improving memory, lower blood pressure, reducing stress, boosting self-esteem and provides more emotional benefits. Trained and certified music therapists are seen to work in multiple healthcare settings. Therapists often associate themselves with those suffering from anxiety, severe depression, and grief.  Here, music is used as a tool for pain relief. Many experiments have been conducted resulting in the fact that, music is often used to distract the patient from pain and anxiety thus improving his overall emotional engagement.

Music in pain management

The question often raised by people is ‘How does listening to music help reduce your pain?

Listening to music you enjoy releases the opioids in your brain that naturally spread across your body. This helps in reducing the pain you feel while listening to music. The pain relief might also occur by the release of endorphins or changes in catecholamine levels in patients which distracts them from thoughts of pain.

Patients with chronic pain generally tends to experience a low quality of life. However, music could help in giving them back their confidence, sense of independence and by far improve the quality of their lives. Information from various trails will only give us answer to a certain extent. However, if we do have a non-pharmacological method of relieving pain, why not it to alleviate pain?

Music Therapy for Kids

Once a child’s needs and goals are identified (based on the background of the disease), music therapist creates a specific plan to address the child. Music activates neuron to form new connections and pathways. While the therapist works with the child on one skill with music, automatically other skills related to music develops. The therapy session will include playing musical instruments, composing songs, dancing, singing or simply just listening. Through lyrics and melodies, children are taught sensible motor skills. A catchy song with a good jingle instantly stays in the memory of the child. A child’s brain develops at a faster rate when exposed to music, resulting in reading, and learning new languages. Listening to music helps a child’s blood flow and circulation to increase the absorption of nutrients and relief of pain and stress. 

Health benefits amongst adults

The right kind of music encourages staying physically active. Involving in physical movement leads to improved muscle strength, bone density, flexibility, balance, and coordination. Playing or listening to music helps in a rhythmic breathing pattern thus improving in overall respiratory health providing a positive feeling. Isolation amongst adults is a very common entity. For this, group music therapy brings about a healthy way to communicate with other adults resulting in enhancing each other’s mood. Older adults with dementia, Alzheimer diseases, can use music to access their past experiences and memories. It helps to reduce anxiety, depression, and agitation. Familiar music helps them to maintain a hold on their experiences and identities.

The Indian Association of Music Therapy is the association that represents researchers, scientists, music therapists, corporate members to promote the use of music in helping to cure diseases. It provides music in therapeutic use to cure disorders in rehabilitation, special education, and community settings.

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