Journal of Pain & Relief
Open Access

Abstract

In the present study, we hypothesized that listening to music would modulate the effects of allodynia, hyperalgesia and fatigue in patients with fibromyalgia (FM). Due to its emotional effect, we expected that listening to music would have a greater moderating effect on the perception of pain and fatigue than listening to non-musical sounds. To investigate this hypothesis, we carried out a study in which people with FM were given a listening device for four weeks enabling them to listen to either music or environmental sounds when they experienced pain, in either an active (while carrying out a physical activity) or passive (at rest) situation, while measuring changes in levels of pain and fatigue. The results of this study indicate that when people with FM listen to music or environmental sounds when they are at rest, their pain and fatigue decreased after 20 minutes of listening. This physical improvement persists for ten minutes after the end of the listening session. In physical active situations their pain did not decrease but it did not increase. Contrary to our expectations, music and environmental sounds produced the same effect on pain and fatigue, with no extra benefit gained by listening to music rather than environmental sounds.

Biography

Email: lolita_chavaria@msn.com