As soppy Guardian types who like to blub at music know, music can mend a broken heart or comfort us through the darkest torments of the mind. It can also, according to a survey by Lloyds Pharmacy, help if someone stamps on your toe.
Apparently, 40% of people who suffered from persistent pain reported that music helped to relieve symptoms – with Simon and Garfunkel's Bridge Over Troubled Water, Robbie Williams's Angels and Elton John's Candle in the Wind among the songs they found most soothing. This slightly contradicts my own survey, which found that 100% of all respondents (sample size: one) thought Candle in the Wind induced chronic pain, but there you go.
Young people got the most help from music (66%) and although we should be cautious about trusting the kind of freak who reaches for Robbie Williams in a time of crisis, this does at least explain why pop music is the favoured genre of pain-alleviating music (classical, then rock/indie follow close behind). So what is it about the pop songs that seems to relieve pain? A "soothing", laidback vibe seems to be important in view of the songs listed as potential rivals to ibuprofen: the Commodores' Easy and Fleetwood Mac's instrumental Albatross were both on the list, whereas the back catalogues of Dying Fetus and Goatwhore were conspicous by their absence.
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I originally assumed that lyrical themes about healing and overcoming difficulty would be important provided they didn't mention pain or hurt itself – after all, it would be hard to take your mind off that gammy knee with the chorus to REM's Everybody Hurts blaring away in the background. However, this doesn't seem to be the case: Bridge Over Troubled Water mentions "pain is all around", and Angels refers to pain walking "down a one-way street". Easy goes further, opening with the line: "Know it sounds funny but I just can't stand the pain."
Really, distraction seems to be the central concept. Any pastime could make a difference, but it makes sense that music – where you channel your thoughts and emotions into the experience – would be especially helpful.
Andrew Mawhinney of Lloyds Pharmacy says it is now trialling the use of music at some of its pharmacies. So next time you say you need something for a sore back and the pharmacist starts cranking out Robbie Williams, you'll know who to blame.
