The effects of alpha binaural beats stimulation vs. classical music on pain intensity in patients with chronic low back pain

BACKGROUND: Chronic low back pain (CLBP) is a common medical complaint and even the leading cause of disability worldwide. CLBP increases medical costs and affects activity and productivity, reducing the quality of life of sufferers. Currently, nonpharmacological approaches are becoming options that can be considered in the management of CLBP therapy. These include brain wave entrainment (BWE) using alpha binaural beat (BB) auditory stimulation or classical music, which are known to affect pain perception.METHODS: This experimental study used a pre-test/post-test design to compare the effect of BB therapy and classical music on CLBP pain intensity. It involved 20 samples in each group, namely BB, classical music, and control, who were given interventions for 30 min per session and pain medication for 6 consecutive days. We analyzed a comparison of groups using the Mann-Whitney and Kruskal-Wallis tests.RESULTS: The findings indicated a notable disparity in pain intensity reduction (P=0.022) between the BB group and the control group. Conversely, there was no substantial difference in the reduction in pain intensity between the classical music group and the control (P=0.088). The comparison between BB and classical music yielded negligible outcomes (P=0.331). The reduction in pain intensity was statistically significant (P=0.040), with the BB group demonstrating greater therapeutic efficacy than the other groups. CONCLUSIONS: Alpha BB reduces pain intensity more than classical music in CLBP.