engleski

Enhancement of stroke recovery - The role of music therapy in the recovery after stroke

During the past decades a great achievements were done in the field of the stroke therapy, but still the greatest role in the battle against this disease lies on prevention and rehabilitation after the illness occurred. Early start and consistent physical rehabilitation is the absolute need for successful recovery of the patient’ s motor skills as well as his/her psychological wellbeing. Many novelties are introduced in the physical therapy methods, among others the role of music is researched more than ever and very significant and optimistic results were established. In the ancient times great scientists and philosophers explored and noticed the connection between music, human body and health. Phytagoras assumed that harmony of the music influences the harmony of the biological processes in the human body. Several thousands year after, modern technologies enabled almost direct view into the human brain and its functions, among others fMRI studies showed how music activates specific brain areas so today scientists have evidences of influence of music on healthy as well as on damaged brain. These studies have discovered that during listening to the music some areas of motor cortex are activated although the person is completely still. The similar situation occurs while person imagine some tune or rhythm. It is considered that music has complex influence on human brain, motor and sensory areas, what could be an explanation why music is a drive for dancing, singing or expressing of emotions by mimic and gesticulation. The influence of music on healing processes was investigated by many scientists – medical and musical experts and the clear connection based on clinical studies between music and better recovery after stroke is shown. Particular benefit was shown in muscle and movement control, speech recovery, cognition and mood. Music with its rhythm especially helps recovery of walking, what was presented by researches at Colorado State University who stimulated stroke patients with rhythmic melody and after three weeks they were able to walk more steadily and had better balance than the patients without rhythmic stimulation. Since the area for singing is mostly speared in stroke patients withy dysphasia, singing is of the great help in regaining speech abilities. Patients with stroke who have listened to the music during physical therapy had better results than the group without musical background during rehabilitation. Also, they suffered of depression in a less degree and they were emotionally more stable and more communicative than control subjects. Music therapy doesn’ t consist only in listening to the music. Playing the instrument uses many aspects of the brain and body, it stimulates and synchronizes motor skills. The incredible therapeutic power of music is not limited. Further studies should discover more methods of music therapy and more fields where it can be implemented.

Stroke recovery; music therapy; rehabilitation

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