BRIEF RESEARCH REPORT article
Front. Hum. Neurosci.
Sec. Cognitive Neuroscience
Volume 19 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fnhum.2025.1579130
This article is part of the Research TopicExploring the Impact of Music Interventions on Brain Function, Behavior, and HealthView all 6 articles
Adolescents' Use of Music for Pain Management
Provisionally accepted
Rebecca J. Lepping1,2*
Lora L. Black3
Kymberly A. Kline2
Deanna Hanson-Abromeit4
Andrea L. Chadwick5Dustin P. Wallace6,7William R. Black8,9*- 1Department of Neurology, University of Kansas Medical Center, Kansas City, United States
- 2Hoglund Biomedical Imaging Center, University of Kansas Medical Center, Kansas City, KS, United States
- 3Department of Psychiatry & Behavioral Health, Wexner Medical Center, The Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio, United States
- 4Department of Music Education and Music Therapy, School of Music, University of Kansas, Lawrence, Kansas, United States
- 5Department of Anesthesiology, Pain, and Perioperative Medicine, University of Kansas Medical Center, Kansas City, United States
- 6School of Medicine, Department of Pediatrics, University of Missouri - Kansas City, Kansas City, MO, United States
- 7Pain Management Clinic, Children's Mercy Hospital, Kansas City, United States
- 8The Abigail Wexner Research Institute, Nationwide Children's Hospital, Columbus, Ohio, United States
- 9Center for Biobehavioral Health, Department of Pediatrics, College of Medicine, The Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio, United States
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To investigate the experiences of adolescents with chronic pain who participated in an intensive interdisciplinary pain treatment program, this secondary study analyzes the themes that emerged regarding the spontaneous utilization of music in coping strategies for chronic pain.During research interviews focused on coping skills and treatment engagement, participants spontaneously reported using music as an effective coping strategy for managing pain. A deductive thematic analysis revealed key themes related to their usage, including using music as a distractor, motivator and in other ways as coping strategies. Since participants indicated that music is essential to their experiences of coping with pain, incorporating these strategies could improve the effectiveness of treatment protocols. To this end, further investigation is necessary to assess the impact of music on adolescents with chronic pain, focusing on its role in enhancing interdisciplinary treatment.
Keywords: pediatric, Pain, Intensive interdisciplinary pain treatment, Music, pain management strategies
Received: 18 Feb 2025; Accepted: 30 Jun 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Lepping, Black, Kline, Hanson-Abromeit, Chadwick, Wallace and Black. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence:
Rebecca J. Lepping, Department of Neurology, University of Kansas Medical Center, Kansas City, United States
William R. Black, The Abigail Wexner Research Institute, Nationwide Children's Hospital, Columbus, 43205, Ohio, United States
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