I recently went to see the musical film "Mama Mia", came out humming happily and strode briskly the half-mile home - only remembered then that I only walk slowly with a stick & a limp. I'd just done non-stop in 10 minutes a walk that had taken me 30 going out, with 2 rests. Go on doctors, explain that ? Where'd I get the dopamine? Amanda. Quoting rayilynlee <[log in to unmask]>: > Hearing the music, healing the brain > By Matthew Shulman > U.S. News and World Report > Article Last Updated: 09/07/2008 02:08:57 PM MDT > > Music therapy is helping patients regain abilities lost to Parkinson's, > Alzheimer's and strokes. > Rande Davis Gedaliah's 2003 diagnosis of Parkinson's disease was followed by > > leg spasms, balance problems, difficulty walking, and ultimately a serious > fall in the shower. But something remarkable happened when the 60-year-old > public-speaking coach turned to an oldies station on her shower radio: She > could move her leg with ease, her balance improved and she couldn't stop > dancing. Now, she puts on her iPod and pumps in Springsteen's "Born in the > U.S.A." when she wants to walk quickly; for a slower pace, Queen's "We Are > the Champions" does the trick. > Music therapy has been practiced for decades as a way to treat neurological > conditions from Parkinson's to Alzheimer's to anxiety and depression. Now, > advances in neuroscience and brain imaging are revealing what's actually > happening in the brain as patients listen to music or play instruments and > why the therapy works. > "It's been substantiated only in the last year or two that music therapy can > > help restore the loss of expressive language in patients with aphasia" > following brain injury from stroke, says Oliver Sacks, the noted neurologist > > and professor at Columbia University, who explored the link between music > and the brain in his recent book "Musicophilia." Beyond improving movement > and speech, he says, music can trigger the release of mood-altering brain > chemicals and once-lost memories and emotions. > Humans born for the beat > Parkinson's and stroke patients benefit, neurologists believe, because the > human brain is innately attuned to respond to highly rhythmic music; in > fact, says Sacks, our nervous system is unique among mammals in its > automatic tendency to go into foot-tapping mode. In Parkinson's patients > with bradykinesia, or difficulty initiating movement, it's thought that the > music triggers networks of neurons to translate the cadence into organized > movement. > "We see patients develop something like an auditory timing mechanism," says > Concetta Tomaino, cofounder of the Institute for Music and Neurologic > Function in New York City. "Someone who is frozen can immediately release > and begin walking. Or if they have balance problems, they can coordinate > their steps to synchronize with the music," improving their gait and stride. > > Slow rhythms can ease the muscle bursts and jerky motions of Parkinson's > patients with involuntary tremors. > Actually playing music, which requires coordinating muscle movements and > developing an ear for timing, can also bring dramatic results, says Rick > Bausman, a musician and the founder and director of the Martha's > Vineyard-based Drum Workshop. > The workshop uses traditional drum ensembles, in which groups of > participants play percussion pieces, as one form of therapy for patients > with a variety of cognitive and physical disabilities, including Parkinson's > > disease. Bausman teaches participants to play along with traditional > Afro-Caribbean beats like the Haitian kongo and Cuban bembe using congas, > bongos and djun-djun drums. > "Participants report that their control of physical movement improves after > playing the drums, their motion becomes more fluid, they don't shake quite > as much, and their tremors seem to calm down," says Bausman. > Indeed, research on the effects of music therapy in Parkinson's patients has > > found motor control to be better in those who participated in group music > sessions - improvisation with pianos, drums, cymbals and xylophones - than > in people who underwent traditional physical therapy. But gains were no > longer evident two months after the sessions ended, so the best results > require continued therapy. To stay motivated, Tomaino recommends seeking out > > both therapeutic drumming groups like Bausman's and social dance classes. > Patients can also create music libraries for CDs or MP3 players that can be > used to help walking. > Because the area of the brain that processes music overlaps with speech > networks, neurologists have found that a technique called melodic intonation > > therapy is effective at retraining patients to speak by transferring > existing neuronal pathways or creating new ones. > "Even after a stroke that damages the left side of the brain - the center of > > speech - some patients can still sing complete lyrics to songs," says > Tomaino. With repetition, the therapist can begin removing the music, > allowing the patient to speak the song lyrics and eventually substitute > regular phrases in their place. "As they try to recall words that have a > similar contextual meaning to the lyrics, their word retrieval and speech > improves," she says. > The technique appears to activate areas on the right side of the brain, > suggesting that these areas pick up the slack for the damaged left side, > according to Gottfried Schlaug, a Harvard neurologist whose ongoing research > > uses functional MRI scans to study language recovery in stroke patients. > "It's startling to see these images," says Sacks; "one would not expect to > see such plasticity in the human adult brain." > Dramatic recoveries > Trevor Gibbons, 51, can vouch for the brain's flexibility. A patient at Beth > > Abraham Rehabilitation Center in New York City, where Tomaino heads the > music therapy program and where Sacks first began treating chronically ill > patients decades ago, Gibbons has been able to restore his speech after > suffering a devastating spinal injury from a four-story fall and a stroke in > > 2000. The former carpenter says that before he began vocal training and > playing piano with music therapists at the clinic, he couldn't speak or move > > and would lie for days in bed, depressed. > After intensive sessions three times a week over several years, Gibbons not > only recovered his speech but also has written more than 400 songs, recorded > > three CDs, and performed at a benefit fundraiser for Beth Abraham at New > York's Lincoln Center. (Pre-stroke, says Gibbons, he sang only in his church > > choir.) > As Gibbons did, patients often report more positive moods following > sessions. This may be because of an increase in the production of > neurotransmitters like norepinephrine and melatonin, suggested a 1999 study > by researchers from the University of Miami School of Medicine. Several > studies have shown calming music can lower blood pressure rates, and last > year Spanish research showed listening to music before surgery decreased > anxiety, heart rate and levels of the stress hormone cortisol as much as the > > anti-anxiety drug diazepam. > Stress and anxiety relief, in fact, may be one reason music can help people > with Alzheimer's and dementia uncover memories that seemed irrecoverable, > experts say. Researchers reported in 2006 that enhanced memory recall > accompanied significant reductions in anxiety when Alzheimer's patients > listened to the "Spring Movement" from Vivaldi's "Four Seasons." > Set at ease by familiar melodies, they may be more apt to communicate too. > Even people at advanced stages of the disease sometimes see improvements in > attention and alertness, sociability and overall functioning after music > therapy. The reason, experts suspect, is that music stimulates areas deep > within the amygdala and hippocampus, where emotion and long- term memory are > > processed. Both are less prone to the effects of Alzheimer's than the outer > cortex, the hub for complex thought. > Music played at a wedding, a religious service, favorite songs from > childhood, or concerts from the teenage years or young adulthood can serve > as cues to recover memories, says Suzanne Hanser, founder of the music > therapy department at the Berklee College of Music in Boston and a > practicing therapist at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute. > Not everyone will respond, and it may take several sessions to see any > effect, says Hanser. She finds that simple stress-reduction techniques such > as facial massage or muscle-release exercises can often enhance the music's > magic. > > Rayilyn Brown > Director AZNPF > Arizona Chapter National Parkinson Foundation > [log in to unmask] > > ---------------------------------------------------------------------- > To sign-off Parkinsn send a message to: mailto:[log in to unmask] > In the body of the message put: signoff parkinsn > ---------------------------------------------- This mail sent through http://www.ukonline.net ---------------------------------------------------------------------- To sign-off Parkinsn send a message to: mailto:[log in to unmask] In the body of the message put: signoff parkinsn