[The impact of listening to music on orthopedic patients: a randomized controlled trial]

Music listening represents a gold standard in the evidence-based holistic nursing practice. However, music listening is seldom involved in orthopedic postoperative settings, and only a few related studies can be retrieved in literature.

The aim was to assess the effects of music during the orthopedic postoperative period, when patients frequently report pain and anxiety.

A randomized controlled trial on 56 patients, equally divided in an experimental group treated with music and a control group in standard care, was conducted during their first-day of recovery from orthopedic surgery. The primary outcome was the pain level assessed with the VAS scale and the Short Form-McGill Pain Questionnaire. Secondary outcomes assessed were anxiety level, blood pressure, heart and respiratory rates and oxygen saturation. Following surgery, when clinically stabilized and soon after their return to their ward room, patients listened to music from a personal programmed playlist using their smartphones for 30 minutes.

In music group, the Short Form-McGill Pain Questionnaire score significantly improved in the sensorial dimension (p=0.006) and in the affective dimension (p=0.02). Patients showed a pleasant experience in listening to music (90%), found it useful in coping with pain (64%) and improving mood (86%).

Music in the orthopedic post-surgical period induced significant improvement in pain relief, representing a useful complementary intervention to drug treatment. Music listening could be a safe treatment, inexpensive and simple to manage by nurses in orthopedic postoperative settings.