Central Neuromodulation of Pain Through Music in Healthy Subjects (DOUMU1)

Pain is a multidimensional, complex and universal phenomenon that would be faced by almost one in two European adults. To meet the needs in terms of public health, contemporary medicine is gradually reintegrating the use of complementary therapeutic methods. Music therapy is a non-medical intervention that is particularly suited to pain problems. The therapeutic use of music is an economical, practical and safe method. Many clinical studies show that this activity promotes a significant decrease in pain. The ability of passive listening to music to reduce the perception of pain has been called "music-induced analgesia". The neuro-psycho-physiological mechanisms that underlie this phenomenon remain poorly understood. One hypothesis, still discussed, proposes that listening to music would stimulate, directly or indirectly, endogenous mechanisms of modulation of pain, stemming from the brainstem. In individuals undergoing nociceptive tonic stimulation, the specific neuronal activation induced by listening to music demonstrates the involvement of inhibitory descending pathways. A measurement of pain control mechanisms would account for the impact of music on central awareness.

The purpose of this research is therefore to study the neuromodulatory effect of music on the sensory component of pain. The activation of pain control systems, through music, would pave the way for rehabilitation prospects for patients with a deficit of these controls.