Music Can Help Some Stroke Patients

People who are recovering from a recent stoke mat find that music therapy helps them.  This is the outcome of a Cochrane Systematic Review of available published clinical studies. 

The reviewers searched clinical trials registers and all relevant medical journals for randomized controlled trials comparing music therapy plus standard care with standard care alone, or combination treatments.  The patients had to have brain damage of a non-degenerative nature and were being treated in hospital, outpatient, or community settings. 

Seven studies were included in the analysis, which totaled 184 patients.  Overall, the results suggested that rhythmic auditory stimulation (i.e. music) can improve gait in stroke patients.  Two randomized studies in 98 recent stroke patients (2-3 weeks post-stroke) showed that gait velocity, cadence, symmetry, and stride length were all improved with music therapy.  But there were insufficient data to allow conclusions to be drawn about other outcomes in patients with other types of acquired brain injuries. 

Music can be used as therapy in a variety of ways – singing to improve speaking and voice quality, listening to music to reduce pain, and to improve well-being.  But the result of this review shows that more, and larger, studies should be done to define the best way of incorporating music therapy into the rehabilitation of stoke patients.