Music therapy for MS may help with motivation, heat sensitivity
Participants report feeling more relaxed, balanced, connected to their bodies
A six-week music therapy intervention significantly reduced psychosocial fatigue — or fatigue that interferes with a person’s motivation and ability to engage in social and daily activities — and heat sensitivity in people with multiple sclerosis (MS), according to data from a clinical trial.
Participants who received music therapy also reported feeling more relaxed, balanced, and connected to their bodies after each session, compared with those who received a control intervention without music.
The therapy also showed a tendency to reduce anxiety, but the study was not powered to detect a difference in this outcome. Studies with more frequent and longer sessions are needed to explore the benefits of music therapy for people with MS, researchers wrote.
The study, “Music therapy with a monochord in multiple sclerosis (“MUTIMS”): A randomized, controlled, rater-blinded trial,” was published in the Multiple Sclerosis Journal – Experimental, Translational and Clinical.
Mental health problems, such as anxiety and depression, along with fatigue and chronic pain, are common and often debilitating symptoms of MS that significantly affect a person’s daily functioning and quality of life.
Music therapy shown to ease some symptoms in people with other conditions
While standard drug treatments remain central to MS care, nonpharmacological interventions have proven useful as complementary approaches to relieve these symptoms. Music therapy has shown promise in people with other conditions, but its benefits in MS remain unclear.
The majority of previously published data are based on studies with uncontrolled designs, a small number of participants, or the use of various music-based interventions, which does not allow “definite conclusions about exact effects,” the researchers wrote.
To address that, a group of researchers in Switzerland launched a clinical trial (DRKS00024549), called MUTIMS, which tested music therapy against a control no-music intervention in 57 adults with MS. Most participants were women, and their mean age was about 50 years.
Both groups took part in six weekly 45-minute outpatient sessions. During each session, participants lay on a wooden instrument called a monochord, similar in size to a massage therapy table, with 55 musical strings mounted underneath. When played, the strings produce sounds and vibrations that can be heard and felt through the body.
“We chose the monochord as it is described to have a relaxing effect,” the researchers wrote.
In the music therapy group, a trained therapist played the monochord for 15 minutes, then guided the participant out of relaxation, and ended the session with a brief conversation. In the control group, participants rested on the monochord in silence, with no music played, but were also guided by the therapist through the other two steps.
After six weeks, symptoms of anxiety and depression did not differ significantly between the two groups, with the intervention failing to meet its main goal.
Longer, more frequent music therapy sessions might be needed to ease anxiety
The researchers suggested the lack of improvement in anxiety may be due to the short duration of the intervention. “Perhaps longer duration and/or more frequent sessions might be needed,” they wrote, noting earlier studies saw improvements in anxiety only after 12 months of continuous music therapy.
Overall fatigue levels were also not different between the groups, but participants given music therapy did experience a statistically significant reduction in psychosocial fatigue. They also had reduced pain sensitivity to heat, with participants experiencing pain at temperatures 1 C higher than the control group.
Although these results must be interpreted with caution, “they may suggest a relaxing and analgesic effect,” the team wrote, adding more studies are needed to confirm whether music therapy may be beneficial for MS patients with chronic pain.
Immediately after each session, participants in the music therapy group also reported feeling more relaxed, balanced, and in touch with their bodies, although these effects were not sustained over the six weeks.
The treatment showed good adherence, with five participants dropping out. The researchers noted “there is data suggesting a role [for] music therapy … as a complementary therapeutic approach in MS.“
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