How music lowers pain, anxiety after surgery - Hindustan Times
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How music lowers pain, anxiety after surgery

Hindustan Times | By, New Delhi
Sep 24, 2015 04:50 PM IST

Listening to music before, during and after surgery lowers patients' pain and anxiety even if they are unconscious under general anaesthesia, concluded researchers after reviewing 72 studies on the effect of music on recovery after surgery.

Listening to music before, during and after surgery lowers patients' pain and anxiety even if they are unconscious under general anaesthesia, concluded researchers after reviewing 72 studies on the effect of music on recovery after surgery. The study, which was reported in The Lancet earlier this week, found that while music didn't hasten recovery or shorten the length of hospital stay, it worked so well as a pain-reliever that patients needed fewer prescription painkillers to manage their post-operative pain.

Music also made patients more satisfied with the treatment and care they were given, compare to patients in routine care, those given headphones with no music, those unexposed to music, and those exposed to white noise. The choice of music and when it was played made no difference to the outcome, but the physical and psychological benefits maxed when patients, not doctors and other medical staff, chose the music.

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"Pre-recorded music through headphones, musical pillows, or background sound systems can be a non-invasive, safe, and inexpensive intervention compared with pharmaceuticals, and can be delivered easily and successfully in a medical setting," wrote researchers from Queen Mary University of London in the medical journal,

Most surgeons in India play music in the OT while operating, with the playlist almost always being chosen by the surgeon leading the surgery. Vintage Bollywood, classical instrumental music and ghazals are the most popular genres among surgeons in India, but you occasionally also hear jazz wafting out of OTs.

One of the favourite stories narrated by a well-known cardiac surgeon in Delhi who plays Jazz is about a patient complaining he hated jazz just before slipping under anaesthesia. The surgeon immediately summoned the patient's family to borrow his playlist, which was played while his heart was being fixed. When the patient woke up to ghazals in post-recovery, the first words he uttered after a triple bypass was that it was a great coincidence that the hospital was playing his favourite songs!

Music do's and don'ts
While there are no structured studies to understand which beats move surgeons in India to do their best in the OT, The BMJ study suggests that popular numbers such as Stayin' Alive (Bee Gees), Smooth Operator (Sade), Comfortably Numb (Pink Floyd) and Wake Me Up Befor you Go-Go (Wham) do wonders for surgical morale, while the numbers best avoided are Another One Bites the Dust (Queen), Everybody Hurts (REM), and Scar Tissue (Red Hot Chilli Peppers), with researcher's suggesting the last one be banned in the OTs plastic and reconstructive surgeons.

Carrying your playlist with you if you're undergoing surgery is a win-win situation, unless of course you listen to Punk, which has the potential of outraging conservative OT staff much to your peril.

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  • ABOUT THE AUTHOR
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    Sanchita is the health & science editor of the Hindustan Times. She has been reporting and writing on public health policy, health and nutrition for close to two decades. She is an International Reporting Project fellow from Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies at the Bloomberg School of Public Health and was part of the expert group that drafted the Press Council of India’s media guidelines on health reporting, including reporting on people living with HIV.

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