Music Shown To Speed Recovery for Stroke Patients

Read this. I found this article from health-updates.org. 


Strokes occur when the blood flow to the brain is blocked. A stroke can kill brain tissue and is one of the world’s leading causes of death and permanent disability. Accepted treatment options include medications, surgery, hospital care and rehabilitation, which may soon include music therapy to speed recovery.

A recent study published in the Oxford University Press journal Brain reports that when stroke patients in Finland listened to music for a couple of hours each day, their verbal memory and attention span improved significantly compared to patients who either received no musical stimulation or who listened only to stories read aloud.


These findings support growing research pointing to the benefits of music and music therapy for conditions including autism, schizophrenia and dementia. However, “this is the first time music alone has been shown to have a positive effect on victims of brain injury such as stroke” said the study’s lead author Teppo Sarkamo, a psychologist at the Cognitive Brain Research Unit at the University of Helsinki.

The trial, conducted between March 2004 and May 2006, involved 60 patients whose ages averaged just under 60. All had recently experienced a stroke of the middle cerebral artery in the left or right side of the brain, which is the most common type of stroke. Most had problems with movement, as well as cognitive processes such as memory and focusing their attention.

Sarkamo and colleagues started working with the patients as soon as possible after they had been admitted to the hospital. “We thought that it was important to start the listening as soon as possible during the acute post-stroke stage, as the brain can undergo dramatic changes during the first weeks and months of recovery and we know these changes can be enhanced by stimulation from the environment,” Sarkamo said.
The patients were randomly divided into three groups. All participants received standard rehabilitation treatment. One group listened to at least two hours of their favorite music each day, mostly Finnish or English-language pop. The second group listened to audio books, and the third group to neither.

The 54 patients who completed the study received a battery of cognitive and psychological tests that showed a vast improvement. Three months after their stroke, the verbal memory of the music listeners was boosted by 60 percent, by 18 percent in audio book listeners, and by 29 percent for those who listened to neither. “These differences were still essentially the same six months after the stroke,” said Sarkamo.
The music listeners also had a 17 percent improvement in their ability to focus attention. In addition, the music-exposed patients experienced less depression than the other two groups.

“These differences in cognitive recovery can be directly attributed to the effect of listening to music,” Sarkamo said. He continued by saying that “furthermore, the fact that most of the music (63 percent) also contained lyrics would suggest that it is the musical component or the combination of music and voice that plays a crucial role in the patients’ improved recovery.”

“We can’t say what is happening in the brain, but based on previous research and theory it may be music listening could actually activate the brain areas that are recovering,” Sarkamo said. “Music might also in some way activate more general mechanisms that repair and renew the brain’s neural networks after stroke.”
Sarkamo said that larger studies are needed to better understand exactly what is going on and that if validated could offer a cheap, easy additional treatment for stroke patients. “This could be considered a pilot study. It is a promising start.”

http://www.health-updates.org/conditions/hypertension/music-shown-to-speed-recovery-for-stroke-patients/#more-461