UC Irvine researchers discover listening to jazz music helps relieve musculoskeletal pain

Irvine, Calif., March 5, 2025 — University of California, Irvine researchers discovered that mindfully listening to jazz, improvisational, or unpredictable music can reduce chronic musculoskeletal pain. In addition to musculoskeletal pain, the study also found that listening to jazz music may help decrease anxiety and increase mindfulness among chronic patients.

The study titled Mindful Jazz and Preferred Music Interventions Reduce Pain Among Patients with Chronic Pain and Anxiety: A Pilot Randomized Controlled Trial was published in Cureas: Part of Springer Nature.

“This is the first study of its kind that links listening to jazz music with less pain and improved health, said Sean Young, PhD, professor in the Departments of Emergency Medicine and Informatics at the UC Irvine School of Medicine. “It also provides a non-addictive therapy for chronic pain, along with helping anxiety.”

Chronic Musculoskeletal pain (CMP,) which includes spinal pain and osteoarthritis, is the most expensive health condition in the U.S. Additionally, almost 30 percent of chronic pain patients who receive long-term opioid therapy go on to develop problems with opioid misuse, which can lead to addiction and overdose.

“More broadly, we found that mindfully listening to any type of music people prefer reduces pain, but the strongest effects were among people assigned to listen to jazz rather than those who could choose their own style of music,” said Young, lead investigator in the study.

Researchers also found that pain relief effects didn’t just last for the first day when researchers taught participants about the study and listened to music with them, but that the effects persisted throughout the 4-week study when participants were assigned to listen to the music on their own.

The study was funded by the NIH and UCI.

About the UC Irvine School of Medicine
Each year, the UC Irvine School of Medicine educates more than 500 medical students and nearly 150 PhD and MS students. More than 750 residents and fellows are trained at the UCI Medical Center and affiliated institutions. The School of Medicine offers multiple MD, PhD and MS degrees, and students are encouraged to pursue an expansive range of interests and options. For medical students, there are numerous concurrent dual degree programs, including an MD/MBA, MD/MPH, or an MD/MS degree through one of three mission-based programs: the Health Education to Advance Leaders in Integrative Medicine (HEAL-IM), the Program in Medical Education for Leadership Education to Advance Diversity-African, Black and Caribbean (PRIME LEAD-ABC), and the Program in Medical Education for the Latino Community (PRIME-LC). The UC Irvine School of Medicine is accredited by the Liaison Committee on Medical Accreditation and ranks among the top 50 nationwide for research. For more information, visit medschool.uci.edu.