Fibromyalgia patients face chronic and widespread pain that, along with many other symptoms, complicates their lives and reduces their functionality. Researchers and health professionals are constantly trying to find ways to improve the quality of life of these people , since today the disease has no cure.
In this sense we find the study by Eduardo A. Garzza-Villareal and his collaborators, published in the scientific journal Frontiers in Psychology (2014). A total of 21 women with fibromyalgia participated in their work, who were exposed to two conditions, for 10 minutes each: one, listening to relaxing and pleasant music that they themselves had chosen, and two, listening to ‘pink noise’ or ‘pink noise’. noise ‘, which is similar to what we hear when we tune in between two radio stations. Between one condition and the other, to avoid interference, they watched a series of documentaries for 10 minutes. On the other hand, the intensity of pain, its degree of displeasure, the catastrophizing of pain, and variables such as depression and anxiety were assessed. A task called ‘Timed Up & Go’ was also applied to assess functional mobility (the patients were comfortably seated and when they heard a signal, they were asked to get up, walk three meters in a straight line and return to their place to sit again ).
The results showed that the patients felt less intensity of pain and less displeasure after the condition of relaxing music. In addition, the analyzes showed that the patients were faster in the task of getting up and walking after the musical condition but not after the ‘pink noise’ condition.
It is true that nobody is bitter about a sweet, so listening to our favorite music surely makes us, at least, feel good. More research is needed to demonstrate the benefits of different techniques in the treatment of fibromyalgia, such as music, cognitive training, etc., with the aim of improving their health and their lives.
Marisa Fernández, Senior Neuropsychologist, Unobrain
