From blues to pop, music proves a tonic for patients
SA study notes curative powers of playing and listening, writes
EVER since he was a four-year-old prodigy, Mozart has been considered a genius. Now his music is credited with being among the genres that reduce the pain and anxiety felt by surgical patients.
A review of more than 4 000 studies conducted internationally has found that music benefits patients before, during or after surgery, and reduces the use of painkillers.
DJ Fresh, in hospital for a minor procedure recently, said he would choose nostalgic music from his childhood for recuperating, and comedian Nina Hastie said she found reggae rhythms soothing.
Children with cancer, geriatric and surgical patients in a small study at the Wits Donald Gordon Medical Centre in Johannesburg reported that they felt better after students from Wits School of Arts had played for them.
This is the first research in South Africa on how musical performance — as distinct from music therapy or listening to recorded music — affects hospital patients and staff.
Three-quarters of the group who replied to the survey — 19 patients, 26 staff members and 15 carers — said the sessions made them feel a “lot better”. Nearly all found it enjoyable and wanted more.
The music provided comfort to seven-year-old Kgothatso Linda Gwabeni. Her mother, Brenda, said: “She has cancer and had an operation. When she did not have visitors, the music cheered her up. She even wants to go back to the hospital to hear the music.”
Patients who joined the eight sessions reported feeling less pain while they were listening to HEARTSTRINGS: Father Tsholofelo Ahithile, mother Lindiwe Dumakude, child patient Sibusiso Dumakude and Mike McCallum, a Wits community music school student the music, or participating in the performances with percussion instruments.
Victoria Hume, the researcher and a musician, worked as an arts manager in the UK National Health Service for 15 years before she moved to Johannesburg last year.
She said participation here was just as positive as in the UK. “We started off with upbeat bluesy gospel music and added in pop and more popular tunes and South African music,” she said. “The children were having fun and the families enjoyed it.”
Dr Chris du Plessis of the Mediclinic group, said their health campaigns had highlighted, among other things, the benefits of music in lowering heart rates and blood pressure.
The Wits music students performed the pieces and had instruments such as drums and bells for patients to play.
The sessions also boosted patient and nurse relationships.
Hume said: “They shared a common experience and the change in the space after the music was palpable.”
Five of the respondents said they would have liked the sessions to be longer and more frequent. “It is very relaxing for body and soul,” said one. Others said it helped manage the pain.
A Lancet review last month on music and postoperative recovery in adults is not the only big analysis of pain and music.
In 2006, a major Cochrane review linked music to pain relief.
In England, 4.6 million hospitals admissions lead to surgical care and in the US more than 31 million operations are done annually.
Surgery statistics here are not readily available, but roughly 60% of Netcare admissions are of a “surgical nature”..
As Christmas carols take over the airwaves, more accident victims will be admitted to hospitals. Giving them the music of their choice may soothe their pain and speed up recovery.