Analgesic effect of music during wound care among patients with diaphyseal tibial fractures: Randomized controlled trial.

BACKGROUND Evidence is scarce regarding the analgesic effect of music for the relief of acute pain during the care of surgical tibial fracture wounds. OBJECTIVE To evaluate the analgesic effect of music on acute procedural pain during the care of surgical tibial fracture wounds. METHOD This was a randomized, controlled, blinded clinical trial with 70 patients in the immediate postoperative period for diaphyseal tibial fracture surgery. Participants were randomly allocated to two groups: a control group (CG), in which patients received only the institution's standard analgesia, and an intervention group (IG) composed of patients receiving a 30 minute session of music of their own choice, as a complementary method to the institution's standard analgesia. Pain was evaluated during the first postoperative dressing change, using the Numerical Rating Scale (NRS). RESULTS The sample was homogeneously composed of men (91.4%), young adults (61.4%), without previous diseases (88.6%) and whose traumas were related to a motorcycle crash (84.3%). The main musical genres chosen by participants were the most popular in their region (61.4%). Those who listened to music presented lower pain scores when compared to those in the CG (IG:2.4±2.4 vs. CG:5.8±2.7; p<0.001; ƞ2 =0.171; p<0.001). CONCLUSION Listening to music is effective for relieving acute procedural pain during the first post-operative tibial fracture dressing change. Music should be incorporated into the multimodal analgesia protocols for management of orthopedic postoperative wound care related pain.