Music and Hypertonia: Can Music Listening Help Reduce Muscle Tension and Improve Movement Quality?

Abstract

Although there is a strong consensus that music listening is a common and effective means to induce states of relaxation, little attention has been given to the physical effects of such states and the potential health-related applications. In this article, we investigated whether music listening could induce affective states of relaxation and accelerate the recovery of fatigued muscles, through the analysis of quality of movement. Twenty healthy participants were asked to perform a fatigue induction protocol of the non-dominant arm followed by a resting period and the execution of a drinking task. During recovery periods, all participants were exposed to three experimental conditions: listening to relaxing music; arousing music; and no music. 3D motion capture and surface electromyography were used to record upper limb movements and muscle activity when performing the drinking task before and after the recovery periods. Movement quality was assessed by means of movement smoothness (jerk index) and muscle recovery (motor unit recruitment). Results showed that recovery of movement smoothness in the relaxing music condition was significantly greater (-35%) than in the relaxing music condition (compared to arousing music, -25%, and silence, -16%) which demonstrates that listening to relaxing music speeds up the recovery process of (fatigued) muscles. We discuss our findings in the context of potential applications of music listening for reducing muscle tension in people suffering from hypertonia.

Perspectives of Circadian-Based Music Therapy for the Pathogenesis and Symptomatic Treatment of Neurodegenerative Disorders

“…Pianists specifically with late chronotypes, as evaluated through the Münich Chronotype Questionnaire, exhibited higher sensorimotor precision in the evening, further demonstrating the possible link between circadian fluctuations and highly complex sensorimotor tasks (Van Vugt et al, 2013 ). Interestingly, relaxing music has been found to improve symptoms of hypertonia during recovery periods after fatigue-inducing exercise, as measured by analyzing smoothness of movement and motor unit recruitment (Van Criekinge et al, 2021 ). The effects of MT on hypertonia in the form of rigidity in PD patients (Solopova et al, 2014 ) and other motor ailments have been shown to improve symptoms (Pacchetti et al, 2000 ), however, the specific circadian manifestations of these symptoms and timing of certain therapies in relation to the daily peak of symptoms have yet to be analyzed.…”