Effect of music therapy in dysmennorhic subjects during menstrual phase of menstrual cycle

Introduction: Dysmenorrhea is a prevalent problem, which adversely affect the day to day activities of students. Heart rate variability is a noninvasive tool to assess the sympathovagal balance. Music therapy being a easy approach can be used to alleviate the severity of dysmenorrhea.

Methods :  30 young adolescent girls suffering from primary dysmenorrhea was included in the study. Day 1 of menstrual cycle, Premenstrual Syndrome- Dysmenorrhea Questionnaire was administered. HRV was tested for all subjects. Music therapy was administered for one week prior to the next expected date of menstruation. Raga malakauns and yaman by flute was used for music therapy. Day1 of next cycle HRV was repeated and a PMS-Dysmenorrhea questionnaire was readministered.

Statistics : The intragroup data was analyzed using Paired t test using SPSS16 software. P value <0.05 was taken statistically significant.

Results: In the present study, mean dysmenorrhea score before administering music therapy was 63.4± 5.3 compared to post music therapy (MT) dysmenorrhea score i.e., 57.6±8.49. High frequency domain showed significant difference between pre MT (42.3±13) and post MT (50.14± 15.7) with a p- value of 0.04. Consequently, the LF-to-HF (LF/HF) ratio represents the sympathovagal balance ². LF/HF ratio showed a significant difference from pre MT (1.72±0.9) to post MT (1.25±0.48) with a p-value of 0.0005. This significant difference indicates the shift of sympathovagal balance after music therapy towards parasympathetic activity.