Walk into most physical therapy clinics and you’ll hear music playing. But ask why it’s there, and the answer is usually some version of “it fills the silence” or “patients seem to like it.” That’s a significant underestimation of what’s actually happening.
A growing body of peer-reviewed research, alongside the real-world observations of physicians across clinical settings, makes a compelling case that music is not background noise in a rehabilitation environment. Used intentionally, it is one of the most accessible, cost-effective, and side-effect-free therapeutic tools available to your practice.
Here are five ways playing music in your physical therapy (PT) office can be beneficial for both your patients and your practice.
Overview
Playing music can improve the patient experience in physical therapy sessions. Aside from providing background noise, the music you play can:
- Create a pleasant environment that is fully-licensed and compliant
- Engage elderly patients
- Relax patients
- Make appointments go by faster
- Improve employee morale
How Does Music Affect Physical Therapy?
Research confirms that playing music in a physical therapy environment can reduce anxiety, decrease pain perception, improve quality of life, and provide motivation for movement and participation in treatment. These outcomes map directly onto what PT practices are measured by: session completion, functional progress, and patient satisfaction.
1. Music Licensing is Covered
Let’s start with licensing. Physical therapy offices often tell us that they are concerned about playing any background office music because of licensing concerns. And it’s true. Any music played in a commercial setting must be appropriately licensed. Licensing agencies like ASCAP, BMI, and SESAC actively seek out businesses using unlicensed music and asses fines and penalties. These agencies are actually enforcing U.S. copyright law by collecting royalty fees and paying them to the musicians and songwriters that created the music.
The good news is that Dynamic Media Music offers fully licensed music for business. This means it is 100% legal to play in your physical therapy clinic, plus you have complete control over what music plays.
2. Engages Elderly Patients
Geriatric physical therapy is a segment on the rise as baby boomers age into their late 60s and early 70s. This generation is using physical therapy at a rate never seen before as a means to maintain their quality of life. It is important to have a background office music service with enough variety to satisfy the needs of these older patients.
Patients of all ages enjoy SiriusXM’s award-winning Decades Channels, which gives you access to music from 1940 until the 2000s. Do you have a patient that loves music from the 1960s? No problem. Tune to SiriusXM Channel ‘60s Pop Hits and watch your patient move like they did in their younger years. Connecting older patients to their youth through your background music is the best way to get those muscles, tendons, and joints moving freely again.
3. Brightens Frequent Appointments
Physical therapy is a process that takes a series of treatment sessions to produce positive outcomes. Depending on the patient need, visits may be as often as several times each week. Furthermore, some treatment programs may extend for several months.
By adding physical therapy music into the office, each appointment becomes a unique experience. SiriusXM Business allows you to change musical genres on a regular basis so that your patients experience different songs, rhythms and beats with each visit. The music will keep your patients looking forward to each session.
4. Makes Appointments Go By Faster
Some treatment protocols require the use of repetitive motions. These movements are often repeated during each appointment. Although necessary, patients often tell us that these sessions are boring and that time seems to drag on forever.
This 2020 study found that high-tempo music made exercise feel easier for some gym goers. The right music played during a session provides a welcomed mental distraction for patients.
As patients go through the physical motions, the music shifts their focus from the boredom of the treatment to the interest of the music. The end result is the feeling that time has passed quickly, making the visit more pleasurable than it would have been without music.
5. Perks Up Your Employees
In the physical therapy world, most of the music benefits are associated with patient care, but the right licensed business music will also affect the attitude and energy of your employees. Your therapists and associates are the ones who spend the most time in the office, which means that playing the right music may actually affect them the most.
Some evidence points to positive music boosting employee morale and overall job satisfaction. The music becomes a tool that helps to motivate and inspire your employees, which translates into a more positive clinic environment and more positive patient outcomes.
An Important Distinction: Music in Therapy vs. Music as Therapy
It’s worth being clear about something that often gets confused in the medical space. Formal music therapy is a structured clinical discipline delivered by a board-certified music therapist (MT-BC) — a meaningful professional credential that requires:
An approved bachelor’s degree in music therapy
1,200 hours of clinical training, including a supervised internship
Passage of a national board certification exam
This is fundamentally different from simply playing music in your clinic. What the research supports for most PT practices is the intentional use of music as a therapeutic adjunct; selecting it thoughtfully based on patient population, session type, and individual preference, rather than defaulting to whatever streaming service is easiest.
That distinction matters because, as clinical literature notes, music’s power to affect mood moves both ways. A song connected to a traumatic memory can trigger a negative response, which is why awareness and intention are essential even at the ambient level.
What This Means for Your Practice
Music affects pain, motor function, physiological stress response, patient mood, and treatment adherence, all in measurable, clinically significant ways. The question for physical therapy owners isn’t whether music influences healing. It’s whether your clinic is being intentional about it, or leaving one of the most accessible therapeutic tools in rehabilitation medicine largely untapped.
The good news is that getting started doesn’t require a major investment. It requires curiosity, a willingness to learn what your patients actually respond to, and the understanding that the soundtrack in your clinic is doing far more work than you might think.
Contact Dynamic Media today to discuss adding SiriusXM or Soundtrack (powered by Spotify) to your physical therapy clinic.