Effect of music therapy and reflexology on pain in unconscious patients: A randomized clinical trial

The current study was conducted to compare the effect of music and foot reflexology on pain intensity in patients with loss of consciousness. Pain is the common phenomenon among the patients in Intensive Care Unit and can be due to invasive procedures, mechanical ventilation and physical situation of ICU. The clinical trial study was used. 90 eligible patients were selected conveniently and then were randomly allocated into three music therapy, reflexology and control groups of 30 persons in intensive care unit in one educational hospital in 2015. Intervention was carried out through playing instrumental music of Arnd Stein in 3 sessions of 30 minutes via headphone. In reflexology group, intervention was done for 30 minutes once a day for three consecutive days. Control group only received the routine care about pain relief. Measuring the pain was done through Behavioral Pain Scale (BPS), 5 m inutes before and immediately after the interventions. In control group, measurement was done with the same interval and frequency. Data were analyzed using ANOVA, paired T-test, chi-square by SPSS 15. After the intervention in both interventions groups, the mean score of pain was significantly reduced (p < 0.0001). This reduction was significant between the intervention and control groups (p < 0.0001). Also, in the first and second days of intervention, this difference was significantly different between the music therapy and reflexology groups (p < 0.0001). The application of complementary methods such as music and reflexology can reduce the intensity of pain in patients with loss of consciousness. Thus, these methods can be used as simple and practical methods in pain relief in ICU. The complementary methods such as music and reflexology as practical, affordable, and simple methods are recommended to decrease the pain and increase the patient comfort.