How music therapy can benefit Alzheimer's and stroke patients
Let the music soothe your soul
Music therapy also appears to have an effect on other neurological disorders, from calming the explosive movements of Tourette's syndrome sufferers to inciting recall in Alzheimer's patients. "For the people who are in the throes of Alzheimer's or dementia, music is the one thing that they most often respond to," says Fran Herman, a pioneer of music therapy in Canada and former chair of the Canadian Music Therapy Trust Fund, a nonprofit initiative that has raised funds for music-therapy-related projects across the country.
"We know of literally thousands and thousands of cases of people who cannot speak anymore, who do not recognize their families, but if you put on a song from when they were younger, they will sway to it, they may hum to it, they may even say some of the words to it. That happens because the part of the brain that receives the musical messages is not destroyed by disease or by accident." Notes of hope for stroke patients
Music is also helpful therapy for those who have had a stroke. In a Finnish study published in the February 2008 issue of the journal Brain, verbal memory improved by 60 per cent in stroke victims who listened to music, compared to 29 per cent in those who did not. Focused attention -- being able to resolve conflict and perform mental operations -- improved by 17 per cent in the music group, but not at all in the nonmusic group.
Music also helps stroke patients relearn how to use their muscles and, as in the case of Carol Martin, how to speak. When dealing with physical rehabilitation, Michelle Lawrence, a music therapist with the Victoria Conservatory of Music, looks at functional movement -- range of motion -- and then at how the body moves; to brush your teeth, for example, you have to raise your arm and bend your elbow.
"If I want the arm to lift, musically I would play something that goes from low to high, as I would want that person to move with his or her physical body," she explains. "If it required something with a lot of muscle movement, I would play something really loud. To lower the arm, I would play something that would go from high to low, and a little bit softer."
With speech rehabilitation, a familiar song is an ideal way to get a patient to participate. Since Martin is an avid churchgoer, she and Lawrence chose the struggle-conquering spiritual "This Little Light of Mine" to draw out her speech. "[My patients] will just naturally want to sing the last word of the phrase, whereas if I was speaking a sentence, they wouldn't jump in as much," Lawrence explains. "Their speech may never improve to its original level, but people will be able to understand them."
Click to continue to read an inspiring story about a young girl whose rehabilitation started with the right music...
Page 4 of 5
Music therapy also appears to have an effect on other neurological disorders, from calming the explosive movements of Tourette's syndrome sufferers to inciting recall in Alzheimer's patients. "For the people who are in the throes of Alzheimer's or dementia, music is the one thing that they most often respond to," says Fran Herman, a pioneer of music therapy in Canada and former chair of the Canadian Music Therapy Trust Fund, a nonprofit initiative that has raised funds for music-therapy-related projects across the country.
"We know of literally thousands and thousands of cases of people who cannot speak anymore, who do not recognize their families, but if you put on a song from when they were younger, they will sway to it, they may hum to it, they may even say some of the words to it. That happens because the part of the brain that receives the musical messages is not destroyed by disease or by accident." Notes of hope for stroke patients
Music is also helpful therapy for those who have had a stroke. In a Finnish study published in the February 2008 issue of the journal Brain, verbal memory improved by 60 per cent in stroke victims who listened to music, compared to 29 per cent in those who did not. Focused attention -- being able to resolve conflict and perform mental operations -- improved by 17 per cent in the music group, but not at all in the nonmusic group.
Music also helps stroke patients relearn how to use their muscles and, as in the case of Carol Martin, how to speak. When dealing with physical rehabilitation, Michelle Lawrence, a music therapist with the Victoria Conservatory of Music, looks at functional movement -- range of motion -- and then at how the body moves; to brush your teeth, for example, you have to raise your arm and bend your elbow.
"If I want the arm to lift, musically I would play something that goes from low to high, as I would want that person to move with his or her physical body," she explains. "If it required something with a lot of muscle movement, I would play something really loud. To lower the arm, I would play something that would go from high to low, and a little bit softer."
With speech rehabilitation, a familiar song is an ideal way to get a patient to participate. Since Martin is an avid churchgoer, she and Lawrence chose the struggle-conquering spiritual "This Little Light of Mine" to draw out her speech. "[My patients] will just naturally want to sing the last word of the phrase, whereas if I was speaking a sentence, they wouldn't jump in as much," Lawrence explains. "Their speech may never improve to its original level, but people will be able to understand them."
Click to continue to read an inspiring story about a young girl whose rehabilitation started with the right music...
Page 4 of 5
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