Can music help athletes manage pain during an icing task? an experimental test

Update Item Information
Publication Type thesis
School or College College of Health
Department Exercise & Sport Science
Author Prijatel, Brittany
Title Can music help athletes manage pain during an icing task? an experimental test
Date 2016
Description Pain is ubiquitous in sport. Prolonged or reoccurring pain can lead to a host of negative consequences (e.g., isolation from teammates, feelings of anxiety, decreases in motivation). Previous research has examined how to decrease the perception of pain through psychological interventions (i.e., imagery, relaxation, and goal-setting). However, sport medicine professionals have indicated time constraints and lack of proficiency as barriers when implementing psychological interventions in the scope of a practice. Therefore, alternative techniques may be necessary. Research suggests that music is a safe, convenient, and easily implemented intervention. The purpose of this study was to investigate the use of music as a pain management intervention with collegiate athletes during an icing exercise. Using a repeated measure within subjects design, 50 athletes underwent an icing exercise once with preselected music and once without music. Perceptions of pain were measured prior to the application of ice, at five minutes, and at eight minutes after the application of ice. Additionally, assessments of relaxation, attentiveness to pain, and music enjoyment were collected at the end of both sessions. Hypothesis one stated that pain in the music condition would be less than pain in the no-music condition. No differences in pain emerged between conditions. Hypothesis two stated that athletes' pain in the no music condition would increase across time and athletes' pain in the music condition would decrease across time. There was a significant difference in baseline to 5 min pain scores within the no-music condition (2 (2) = 8.011, p = .018). Relaxation and attentiveness to pain scores had relatively low impact on pain perception (R2 = .034). Based on the results, there are no distinct conclusions as to which variable contributed most to the prediction of pain. Previous research has indicated that participants' enjoyment of music is a key factor when assessing pain. Consistent with previous research, a supplemental data analysis revealed significant impact of music enjoyment for the prediction of pain accounting for 10.6% of the explained variance ( = -.325, p = .021). These findings generate limited support for the use of music as a pain management intervention with athletes.
Type Text
Publisher University of Utah
Subject Athlete; Athletes; Music; Pain; pain management; pain management intervention
Dissertation Name Master of Science
Language eng
Rights Management ©Brittany Prijatel
Format Medium application/pdf
Format Extent 756,066 bytes
Identifier etd3/id/4282
ARK ark:/87278/s6448vt8
Setname ir_etd
ID 197827
Reference URL https://collections.lib.utah.edu/ark:/87278/s6448vt8
Back to Search Results