Author: Chai PR1,2, Gale JY1,3, Patton ME4, Schwartz E4, Jambaulikar GD1, Wade Taylor S2,5, Edwards RR4, Boyer EW1,2, Schreiber KL4
Affiliation: <sup>1</sup>Department of Emergency Medicine, Brigham and Women's Hospital.
<sup>2</sup>The Fenway Institute.
<sup>3</sup>Tufts University School of Medicine.
<sup>4</sup>Department of Anesthesiology, Brigham and Women's Hospital.
<sup>5</sup>Boston University, Boston, Massachusetts, USA.
Conference/Journal: Pain Med.
Date published: 2020 Apr 26
Other:
Pages: pnaa070 , Special Notes: doi: 10.1093/pm/pnaa070. [Epub ahead of print] , Word Count: 279
OBJECTIVE: Music has been shown to modulate pain, although the impact of music on specific aspects of nociceptive processing is less well understood. Using quantitative sensory testing (QST), we assessed the impact of a novel music app on specific aspects of nociceptive processing.
DESIGN: Within-subjects paired comparison of pain processing in control vs music condition.
SETTING: Human psychophysical laboratory.
SUBJECTS: Sixty healthy adult volunteers.
METHODS: Subjects were assessed for baseline anxiety, depression, and catastrophizing using validated questionnaires. QSTs measured included 1) pain threshold and tolerance to deep muscle pressure, 2) pain with mechanical pinprick, 3) temporal summation of pain (TSP) with a repeated pain stimulus, and 4) conditioned pain modulation (CPM) with a second painful stimulus. QSTs were performed in the absence and presence of music delivered through a music app.
RESULTS: We found an increase in pressure pain thresholds in both the forearm (P = 0.007) and trapezius (P = 0.002) with music, as well as a decrease in the amount of pinprick pain (P < 0.001) and TSP (P = 0.01) with music. Interestingly, CPM was also significantly diminished (P < 0.001) in the music condition. No significant difference in cold pain, anxiety, or situational catastrophizing was observed with music. Higher baseline pain catastrophizing scores were associated with less music-induced pressure pain reduction.
CONCLUSIONS: Several measures of mechanical pain sensitivity were reduced with music. TSP, a measure of central sensitization, also decreased with music, but CPM, a measure of descending modulation of pain, was not further augmented by music.
© The Author(s) 2020. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the American Academy of Pain Medicine. All rights reserved. For permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oup.com.
KEYWORDS: Music; Pain; Quantitative Sensory Testing; Temporal Summation
PMID: 32337605 DOI: 10.1093/pm/pnaa070