Effects of Music Listening on Elderly Orthopaedic Patients During Postoperative Bed Rest

The purpose of this randomized controlled study was to elucidate effects of music listening on postoperative pain and/or stress in elderly orthopaedic patients. Forty–four patients over 60 years old participated in this study. Patients were randomly assigned to a music listening group (group M) and a control group (group C). The patients in group M were given a choice of listening to either Western classical music, Gagaku, Noh songs, or Enka, and listened to music for 20 minutes in private rooms. Effects on pain were evaluated using a Visual Analogue Scale (VAS) and the Wong/Baker Faces Scale (FS). As indicators of stress, systolic and diastolic blood pressure, heart rate, and skin temperature and blood flow at the finger tip were measured. In group M, both VAS and FS decreased significantly (p < 0.01) after 10 (VAS: decrease to 79.1%; FS: decrease to 77.6%) and 20 minutes (VAS: decrease to 59.1%; FS: decrease to 53.6%) of music listening, whereas there was no effect on the autonomic nervous system measures. In group C, neither the pain scales nor any of the autonomic nervous system measures changed. When the raw values in the pain scales were compared, the decrease in VAS was significantly larger at 10 fp < 0.05) and 20 minutes (p < 0.001) in group M than in group C, while the decrease in FS was significantly larger in group M at only 20 minutes (p < 0.001). These findings suggest that listening to music may be a simple, noninvasive method for reducing postoperative pain for elderly orthopaedic patients requiring bed rest.