Music alongside physiotherapy was linked to greater neck-pain relief
A small randomized trial found a larger reduction in pain ratings with added music, but the abstract does not show how large that advantage was.
Based on the published abstract. The full paper may contain additional methods, results and limitations.
The 30-second takeaway
People who listened to music during physiotherapy had a greater reduction in pain ratings than those receiving physiotherapy alone. The abstract reports statistical significance but gives no size for the extra reduction. It therefore supports an added effect on measured pain without establishing how noticeable that difference was or whether it persisted after treatment.
The abstract omits the size and confidence interval of the between-group pain difference. It reports outcomes at treatment completion, leaving the durability of any added benefit unclear.
What researchers found
Greater reduction in visual analog pain scores
After 4 weeks, pain scores fell more with physiotherapy plus music than with physiotherapy alone; the magnitude of the difference is not supplied.
Music was an addition
Both groups received physiotherapy, while the music group listened through headphones during treatment. The trial therefore tested music as an addition to that program; it did not isolate the effects of listening to music alone.
Other outcomes need separate interpretation
Both groups had statistically significant changes in anxiety, disability and physical quality-of-life scores. Those within-group findings do not establish an added benefit from music for these outcomes, because the relevant question concerns differences between groups.
The original publication
The effect of passive music listening in addition to conventional physiotherapy on pain, anxiety, and quality of life in patients with chronic neck pain.
Torlak MS, Atici E, Tufekci O et al.
Rev Assoc Med Bras (1992) · 2025
- PubMed ID
- 41370479
- Record checked
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