Effect of Music Therapy on Pain, Physical and Cognitive Function, and Mood of Patients with Knee Osteoarthritis After Total Knee Arthroplasty: Protocol for A Randomized Controlled Trial

Abstract

Abstract Background Total knee arthroplasty (TKA) is the major treatment to decreases pain and improves function for end-stage knee osteoarthritis. Although clinical studies proved the effect of music therapy on physical/cognitive function, mood, or wellbeing, little is known about the effectiveness of music therapy in TKA. This study aims to investigate whether music therapy is a valid treatment for elderly with knee osteoarthritis who underwent TKA. Methods This study will apply randomized control trail (RCT) among 120 senior citizens with knee osteoarthritis after undergoing TKA. These participants would be randomly assigned to either the music therapy group or the controlled group, with a 1:1 allocation. Patients will be monitored for long-term effects over a 40-week period. Results The primary outcomes include numerical rating scale (NRS)-the maximum pain, NRS-the average pain, and Knees Injury and Osteoarthritis Outcome Score. Secondary outcomes included four areas: cognitive assessment, physical assessment, mood assessment, and others. We will apply an intention-to-treat analysis for the withdrawals and missing data. Conclusions This work will be the first RCT and large sample size trial on the use of music therapy for pain after TRK surgery for elderly patients. We will also explore the numbers of primary and secondary outcomes to conduct an in-depth analysis of the possible mechanisms of music therapy on pain, physical function, cognitive function, and mood for elderly patients after TKR. Trial registration: Chinese clinical trial registry, ChiCTR2200062469