Music therapy for Parkinson's disease
Sacks has experienced music's ability to heal, not only as a doctor but also as a patient. In Musicophilia, he recounts how he was able to hike down a mountain to the beat of "The Volga Boatmen's Song" after tearing a tendon in his left leg, and how he relearned to walk with Mendelssohn's Violin Concerto in E minor. Music, he writes, kick-started his damaged motor system into action and helped the natural rhythm of his walk return.
Feel the beat, let go of pain
Studies have also shown that physical discomforts, from postoperative pain to the chronic aches of arthritis, can be relieved, or at least lessened, by listening to music. Researchers at Yale University's School of Medicine found that patients who listened to their favourite music while awake during surgery needed less sedation than people who did not listen to music. Gentle music also has the power to distract the mind and lower heart and breathing rate, all of which help to alter the perception of pain or reduce tension in the face of pain.
Music therapy for Parkinson's sufferers
Imagine dancing with your husband or strolling through the park and suddenly, without any warning, being unable to take another step. This kind of gait-freezing strikes some 40 per cent of people who have Parkinson's disease. But music can have a sort of thawing power, allowing sufferers to regain the ability to move, if only momentarily.
"There seems to be this overriding effect of music on the movement system," explains Lesley Brown, associate professor of kinesiology at the University of Lethbridge in Alberta. Brown is part of a team led by Dr. Bin Hu, professor of neurosciences and codirector for the movement disorder and therapeutic brain stimulation program at the University of Calgary. One of the team's goals is to figure out the best way Parkinson's patients can use music in their activities (such as during exercise), and the best piece of music to listen to, so that over time music becomes a natural trigger for movement.
The theory is that the brain cells that sense music not only function well in people with Parkinson's, but that they also send many connections to the parts of the brain that control movement. These "music cells," when active, may release certain chemicals that let the person's stride continue.
Click to continue for more information on how music therapy can help patients suffering from Alzheimer's and stroke...
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Studies have also shown that physical discomforts, from postoperative pain to the chronic aches of arthritis, can be relieved, or at least lessened, by listening to music. Researchers at Yale University's School of Medicine found that patients who listened to their favourite music while awake during surgery needed less sedation than people who did not listen to music. Gentle music also has the power to distract the mind and lower heart and breathing rate, all of which help to alter the perception of pain or reduce tension in the face of pain.
Music therapy for Parkinson's sufferers
Imagine dancing with your husband or strolling through the park and suddenly, without any warning, being unable to take another step. This kind of gait-freezing strikes some 40 per cent of people who have Parkinson's disease. But music can have a sort of thawing power, allowing sufferers to regain the ability to move, if only momentarily.
"There seems to be this overriding effect of music on the movement system," explains Lesley Brown, associate professor of kinesiology at the University of Lethbridge in Alberta. Brown is part of a team led by Dr. Bin Hu, professor of neurosciences and codirector for the movement disorder and therapeutic brain stimulation program at the University of Calgary. One of the team's goals is to figure out the best way Parkinson's patients can use music in their activities (such as during exercise), and the best piece of music to listen to, so that over time music becomes a natural trigger for movement.
The theory is that the brain cells that sense music not only function well in people with Parkinson's, but that they also send many connections to the parts of the brain that control movement. These "music cells," when active, may release certain chemicals that let the person's stride continue.
Click to continue for more information on how music therapy can help patients suffering from Alzheimer's and stroke...
Page 3 of 5
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