Thousands of people are treated for cancer every
year, and recovering from serious procedures can be
grueling and painful. However, studies show that music
eases the recovery of individuals who have undergone
bone marrow transplants to treat cancer. Researchers
at the University of Rochester in New York included
people of all ages and people with different types of
cancer in their study, which divided patients into two
groups. One group participated in music-assisted
relaxation sessions while the other group did not.
Doctors hoped that by bringing music therapy into
the recovery wards, patients would be distracted from
the pain of their recovery. But music did more than
just occupy the patient’s minds; it actually helped ease
their pain and sped up the healing process.
Bone marrow transplant patients given music-assisted
treatment reported that they experienced much less
pain and nausea. The study also discovered a biological
affect that the music had on the cancer patients.
Patients who weren’t receiving music therapy produced
their own white blood cells in 13.5 days, while those
who did not have music to listen to began producing
the cells in 15.5 days. Since white blood cells are vital
protection against infection following an operation,
the speeding up of white cell production was a welcome
effect.
This article appeared in Making Music Magazine (March/April 2005).
