WNO reveals music’s potential for managing chronic pain
Florence Lockheart
Tuesday, March 25, 2025
Welsh National Opera’s latest evaluation report on its Wellness with WNO Programme shows the potential of music in managing Persistent Pain symptoms
In its latest evaluation report for pilot programme Wellness with WNO: Managing Persistent Pain, Welsh National Opera has uncovered a link between music therapy and substantial improvements in pain management, mental and emotional health and overall quality of life.
One in 10 participants in WNO’s six-week online singing and breathing pilot programme for those experiencing persistent pain reported a significant reduction in chronic pain. Participants also reported overall improvements in anxiety and depression, better mood and an enhanced quality of life.
Wellness with WNO Participant June Evans said: ‘The programme has genuinely changed my life. Before I started the sessions, I was consumed by grief for the life I had before my illness and felt constantly controlled by my pain. Wellness at the WNO has taught me how to tame the pain and every session brings me one step closer to the person I used to be.’
The programme builds on the success of WNO’s 2021 Wellness with WNO Long COVID Programme, which launched in 2021. This flagship programme continues alongside pilots for other long-term conditions, such as ME/CFS and fibromyalgia, and social prescribing initiatives including a programme for secondary school students experiencing anxiety and low confidence and a partnership with Velindre Cancer Centre to address breathlessness.
Funded by Welsh Government and presented in partnership with NHS Wales, the Wellness with WNO: Managing Persistent Pain Pilot Programme’s participants were referred from pain clinics across Wales. Sessions have been co-designed and are led by WNO vocal specialists Zoë Milton-Brown, Jenny Pearson and Kate Woolveridge MBE and are estimated to cost around £12 per person per hour, while the cost for time with an NHS Band 7 Physiotherapist from Chronic Pain Services is estimated at £34.30.
Compiled in November 2024, the report draws on the experiences of 44 participants who had taken part in 36 sessions, and an additional 65 participations across eight drop-in sessions.
