Two recent studies suggest that music can relieve migraine headache in children and relieve experimentally-induced pain. In a study of 58 children with migraine headaches published in the European Journal of Pain music therapy was compared to a placebo pill and an herbal supplement, butterbur. Both music therapy and butterbur provided significantly better relief than placebo. In the second study published in journal Pain, healthy volunteers were subjected to pain by heating up a spot on their forearms. The volunteers were divided into three groups: a silent control group, a group listening to pleasant music and another group listening to unpleasant music. Those who listened to pleasant music felt less pain than the other two groups. These two studes provide scientific support to the use of music therapy for painful conditions, including migraine headaches.
