University of Pennsylvania researchers found music is a legitimate alternative to sedative medications in reducing patient anxiety prior to an anesthesia procedure. Specifically they found that listening to music reduced anxiety before a patient got a peripheral nerve block procedure, which is a type of regional anesthesia that blocks sensations of pain from a specific area of the body. It’s often done before a variety of outpatient orthopedic surgeries. Study lead author, Dr. Veena Graff, says, “Our findings show that there are drug-free alternatives to help calm a patient before certain procedures, like nerve blocks.”
