Surgical procedures can be stressful and painful — patients experience pain and discomfort before and after the operation. A study found that over 80% of patients who undergo surgery experience post-surgical pain, and 75% of them report that their pain levels reach moderate to extreme severity. In the same study, researchers also found evidence that suggests that less than half of patients who have surgery experience adequate postoperative pain relief. And while pain medication exists — and is, in fact, given to postsurgical patients — it shouldn’t be the be-all and end-all when it comes to pain relief. Enter non-pharmacological options for pain relief.

This article provides a non-drug pain relief postoperative care plan that healthcare professionals can discuss with their patients before sending them home after their procedures. We discuss the importance of non-drug pain care and helpful strategies to help patients recover better, reduce their pain levels, and live strong and healthy lives.

Why Non-Pharmacological Pain Care Belongs in Every Recovery Plan

Although pain medication helps address specific things that affect postoperative pain, including inflammation and muscle spasms, it shouldn’t be solely relied on for complete recovery and pain relief. Pain medicines don’t address a patient’s functional and emotional post-surgical needs and may increase a patient’s risk of developing side effects, complications, and even dependence.

This is why doctors and nurses must emphasize the importance of non-pharmacological pain care for postoperative recovery. Studies have found that non-pharmacological pain strategies are effective in managing and reducing mild to moderate postoperative pain levels, are also generally affordable, and have fewer side effects.

Evidence-Based Non-Drug Techniques: Relaxation, Guided Imagery, and Music Therapy

There are several non-drug techniques to help postoperative patients manage pain, including physical therapy, Transcutaneous Electrical Nerve Stimulation (TENS), exercise, and therapy. In this section, we’ll talk about two effective techniques that healthcare professionals can add to their patients’ care plans: guided imagery and music therapy for postoperative pain.

Relaxation and Guided Imagery

Guided imagery, also called visualization, is a psychotherapy technique that reduces stress and increases calmness by visualizing positive mental images, events, or scenes. Guided imagery has been found to help patients reduce anxiety, pain, and enhance sleep quality. A 2021 study found that patients who listened to a 30-minute guided imagery recording twice per day found significant reductions in anxiety scores. Meanwhile, a recently published study found that post-appendectomy patients who used guided imagery for 15- to 20-minute sessions twice daily for three consecutive days experienced significant reductions in pain intensity.

This is a non-pharmacological postoperative technique that doesn’t cost anything — all patients need to do is find a quiet spot in their home where they can sit or lie down and put on a guided imagery audio recording of their choice, which is widely available on YouTube, Spotify, and mental health/meditation apps.

Music Therapy

Music therapy uses music or its elements to help reduce stress, manage symptoms, and improve patients’ quality of life. This complementary therapy aims to help patients with symptoms that affect their mood, thinking, behavior, communication, and movement.

With music therapy, registered music therapists create a tailored session for patients based on their needs, preferences, and experiences and evaluate how effective sessions are in helping manage symptoms for different conditions, including dementia, cancer, Parkinson’s disease, and pain.

A 2025 study found that music therapy is effective in reducing postoperative stress and chronic pain, as well as reducing the amount of analgesic medication consumed by those who undergo this complementary therapy compared to those who do not. On top of these, another study found that music therapy also helped patients improve the quality of their sleep, enhance the quality of their recovery, reduce their anxiety, and stabilize their blood pressure, heart rate, and cortisol levels.