Music‐supported therapy in the rehabilitation of subacute stroke patients: a randomized controlled trial

Abstract

The effect of music-supported therapy (MST) as a tool to restore hemiparesis of the upper extremity after a stroke has not been appropriately contrasted with conventional therapy. The aim of this trial was to test the effectiveness of adding MST to a standard rehabilitation program in subacute stroke patients. A randomized controlled trial was conducted in which patients were randomized to MST or conventional therapy in addition to the rehabilitation program. The intensity and duration of the interventions were equated in both groups. Before and after 4 weeks of treatment, motor and cognitive functions, mood, and quality of life (QoL) of participants were evaluated. A follow-up at 3 months was conducted to examine the retention of motor gains. Both groups significantly improved their motor function, and no differences between groups were found. The only difference between groups was observed in the language domain for QoL. Importantly, an association was encountered between the capacity to experience pleasure from music activities and the motor improvement in the MST group. MST as an add-on treatment showed no superiority to conventional therapies for motor recovery. Importantly, patient's intrinsic motivation to engage in musical activities was associated with better motor improvement.

Neurologic music therapy in multidisciplinary acute stroke rehabilitation: Could it be feasible and helpful?

“…These comments correspond with research findings reporting on the benefits of arousal and affect regulation, learning, activity-driven plasticity and possibly causing less fatigue. 6,25,26 Where patients declined NMT sessions due to fatigue, this was not fatigue caused by the NMT exercises, but fatigue as a symptom of their stroke or head injury, which would also cause patients to decline sessions in other clinical areas, such as physiotherapy. Singing familiar songs and using songs as gap-fill exercises helped some patients with, for example aphasia, apraxia, and/ or dysarthria, experience moments of fluent output.…”

“…There may also be benefits in motivation and fatigue reduction. [25][26][27] This two-year, two-day per-week NMT feasibility project focused on providing clinical contacts for a single cohort (no control group) of in-patients on a 26-bed stroke and rehabilitation unit and four additional beds allocated for neurorehabilitation on the nearby acute major trauma ward. There was no control group, as the purpose of the project was to determine whether or not it would be feasible to deliver NMT interventions to acute stroke patients, which have never been part of multidisciplinary stroke rehabilitation in this setting.…”

Enriching footsteps sounds in gait rehabilitation in chronic stroke patients: a pilot study

“…As revealed by previous research, auditory feedback can alter body perception in healthy controls, 15,16,[35][36][37] as well as in clinical populations. 22,23,[34][35][36][37] In this proof-of-principle pilot study, our main aim was to assess the possibility of modifying dysfunctional gait asymmetry patterns in chronic stroke patients with lower limb hemiparesis by providing manipulated auditory feedback of their walking sounds. While there are a number of applications for movement rehabilitation using sound with information about the actual body position or movement, our study is novel in that it shows the potential of using sound in gait rehabilitation by means of the introduction of changes in body perception in chronic stroke patients.…”

“…[50][51][52] Furthermore, pairing movements with sounds using instruments (music playing) and sonification of movements have been recently shown to be possible candidates for improvement of motor deficits in acute and chronic patients. [20][21][22][23] Overall, these techniques rely on the establishment of fast auditory-motor mappings as well as auditory feedback processing during music performance (or movement sonification). These mechanisms seem to be responsible for the enhanced neural plasticity of premotor and motor regions encountered in stroke patients after music training.…”

Music and Music Therapy in the Medical Radiation Sciences

“…In a randomized controlled trial reviewing musicsupported therapy in subacute stroke patient rehabilitation, Grau-Sanchez et al (2018) [24] found that mood and quality of life were improved for participants receiving music intervention. Music therapy also significantly increased patient's intrinsic motivation to engage with associated improvements in motor outcomes.…”