Doctors in the U.S. report how singing helped an elderly woman prepare for surgery.
The case involved a 76-year-old woman whose blood pressure was too high to be admitted for total hip replacement surgery caused by osteoarthritis..
Giving the usual medications used to reduce her blood pressure reading of 240/120 didn't work, so the surgery was postponed.
The woman asked doctors if she could sing because that often calmed her down and helped with sleeping. Doctors encouraged her to do so.
After two songs her blood pressure had decreased to 180/90 and after 20 minutes of singing her blood pressure had decreased further and stayed consistent for several hours,
As instructed by doctors, the patient sang periodically through the night which kept her blood pressure at acceptable levels and she was cleared for surgery the next morning. Her surgery was successful with no complications.
The case is written up in the April 2011 issue of Arthritis Care and Research published by Wiley-Blackwell.
