Some patients may need to be allowed to sing before operations to help reduce their blood pressure, doctors said yesterday.
The idea comes after an elderly woman experienced a dramatic improvement after she embarked on her own calming therapy before surgery – a good religious sing-song.
Experts say the introduction of singing would build on the use of recorded music to help calm patients.
The finding, reported in the journal Arthritis Care & Research, came after attempts to reduce the woman’s blood pressure with drugs failed.
The woman, aged 76, from the Dominican Republic, was due to have a total knee replacement under a charitable programme run from Boston, USA, but her blood pressure shot up as the operation approached.
When she arrived in hospital the woman’s blood pressure was 160/90 mm Hg but later it increased to 240/120 mm Hg. At this point her operation was postponed – and might have been cancelled as the Boston medical team had limited time to spend in her country.
Doctors said the woman then suggested she should sing – as she often did this to help herself get to sleep. Two songs later her blood pressure had fallen to 180/90 mm Hg.
Dr Nina Niu, of Harvard Medical School, Boston, USA, suggested wide-scale studies might evaluate the benefits of singing.
She said: "Singing is simple, safe, and free. Patients should be encouraged to sing if they wish."
Singing Intervention for Preoperative Hypertension Prior to Total Joint Replacement: A Case Report. Nina N. Niu, María Teresa Perez and Jeffrey N. Katz. Arthritis Care and Research March 30, 2011 (DOI: 10.1002/acr.20406)
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