A stroke can be a devastating experience; it can lead to paralyzing physical effects and the seemingly impossible loss of speech. For many stroke survivors, their life after the event is completely changed, turning what was once easy into something increasingly difficult.
However, research has shown that singing can help stroke victims regain their vocal ability. By learning specific songs suited to retrieving hard-to-reach vocal sounds, adults with chronic post-stroke aphasia saw their speech ability improve dramatically. Join us to discover how music therapy offers hope to those who struggle to access the words they knew so well.
What is the goal of music therapy?
Music therapy for stroke survivors aims to improve the patient’s physical, mental and emotional well-being. Music therapy sessions with adults with chronic post-stroke aphasia are designed to help the patient regain lost language skills. Through a combination of rhythmic exercises, singing, and sound-based activities, such as playing musical instruments, music therapists work to develop the patient’s motor coordination, sensory awareness, and communication skills. .
Music has been found to have a positive effect on cognitive functions such as memory and attention span. Additionally, it can improve mood by reducing stress levels and providing an enjoyable activity that encourages social interaction. For people who have trouble understanding their own speech or the words of others, playing an instrument or singing lyrics can help stimulate language pathways in the part of the brain damaged by the stroke. Music therapy has also been found useful for facial muscle rehabilitation, as it emphasizes expressive hand movements while playing an instrument or singing, two activities that require facial expressions.
By providing enjoyable activities that focus on addressing various aspects of the stroke victim’s condition, music therapy can help increase motivation when used as part of a comprehensive rehabilitation program. Using this holistic approach that combines physical movement with creative expression and social engagement, some studies have demonstrated improved verbal fluency and expressive language through regular music therapy sessions with adults with aphasia. post-stroke chronic.
motor functions.
Music can benefit people other than those with aphasia. It has also been proven to improve motor skills through the inherent connection between movement and music.
Music also provides people with a predictable stimulus. The steady rhythm can help people strengthen their coordination.
During gait training, music can often help stroke victims improve their ability to walk. For example, a music therapist may play music familiar to the patient, with a brisk beat. Patients can then correct an irregular gait or even walk faster and further when walking in time to the music.
The speech.
Using the power of cortical plasticity, stroke victims can form new connections and rearrange old ones between neurons in the brain. Repetition of skill-dependent activities helps to establish these connections. Eventually, a person will regain the use of their limbs that were affected by the stroke. We can apply this same concept to speech correction.
By creating new neural connections through music therapy, people with aphasia can relearn how to speak. By singing during a music therapy session, a stroke survivor with aphasia can improve and create new connections around their damaged speech centers and within their singing centers. These connections can help patients regain the ability to speak normally.
Cognitive function.
Music can activate several areas of the brain at the same time. This makes it an effective way to treat patients who suffer from left neglect. As music can hold and direct a patient’s attention, it can improve a person’s cognitive recovery while ending negative moods. This is particularly helpful, as one in three stroke victims experience post-stroke depression. Depression after a stroke can delay a person’s recovery and inhibit motivation.
The help of familiarity.
Music that is familiar to a person can bring up certain memories and emotions. It can bring peace and comfort to a person who is going through a very stressful and traumatic event in their life.
Ideally, a patient should be exposed to pieces of music that are familiar to him and some that are unfamiliar. Indeed, the different music, familiar and new, activates different parts of the survivor’s brain. It’s a fantastic way to improve mood and keep the mind stimulated, which any stroke survivor can benefit from.
Understand how music therapy can help stroke victims.
By understanding how music therapy can help stroke victims, we can expand our ways to help those affected. As we can see from reading the above, music therapy can be an excellent complement to physiotherapy, while providing several benefits on its own. Those who have been affected by brain damage or disease would be well advised to consider such options.
