A different way to treat patients with Parkinson's disease—completely pharmaceutical free!
What is Parkinson’s disease?
Parkinson’s disease (PD), one of the two most common neurodegenerative disorders (second to only Alzheimer's disease), is a disabling age-related disorder recognized through the loss of dopaminergic neurons. PD primarily affects the substantia nigra, a crucial area in the brain that produces the pleasure neurotransmitter: dopamine. People with PD have a variety of motor and non-motor symptoms, which develop slowly throughout years.
Motor symptoms include tremors (usually at rest), limb stiffness, gait difficulties, and slowness of movement. Non-motor symptoms can be anxiety, apathy, hallucinations, sleep disorders, and varied cognitive debilitation. Symptoms start slowly on one side of the body and may go unnoticed, but progressively get worse.
According to the American Music Therapy Association, music therapy is “a treatment including creating, singing, moving to, and/or listening to music [through which] clients’ abilities are strengthened and transferred to other areas of their lives.”
How is music therapy related?
Music therapists are trained, board-certified individuals who aim to improve the day-to-day lives of their patients. Music therapists have used both passive and active music therapy to treat Parkinson’s disease. However, because declines in motor function, such as gait instability, muscular rigidity, and freezing are the most prominent signs of Parkinson’s disease, active music therapy involving dance or mild forms of exercise is the most effective in treating its symptoms. A specific type of music, rhythmic auditory stimulation, consists of using a metronome or live music to speed up or slow down one’s movement, surmount freezing, or alter gait patterns. Other than movement-based declines, speech and voice symptoms are usually also present. Activities such as singing improves volume and clarity, allowing people to improve communication with each other.
Specifically,
Dance: sets movement rhythm, supplies exercise, and improves coordination and balance
Singing: bolsters volume and quality and strengthens respiration and swallowing
Works Cited
Dolhun, Rachel. "Ask the MD: Music Therapy and Parkinson's." The Michael J. Fox
Foundation for Parkinson's Research, 2 May 2022, www.michaeljfox.org/news/ask-md
music-therapy-and-parkinsons. Accessed 28 Mar. 2024.
"Feel the Rhythm: Music Therapy and Parkinson's Disease." Parkinson's Foundation, 14
Aug. 2018, www.parkinson.org/blog/research/music-therapy. Accessed 28 Mar. 2024.
"Music Therapy & Other Complementary Therapies for Parkinson's." American Parkinson
Disease Association, 5 Feb. 2019, www.apdaparkinson.org/article/music-therapy
parkinsons-disease/. Accessed 28 Mar. 2024.
"Parkinson's Disease - Symptoms and Causes." Mayo Clinic, Mayo Foundation for Medical
Education and Research, 26 May 2023, www.mayoclinic.org/diseases
conditions/parkinsons-disease/symptoms-causes/syc-20376055. Accessed 28 Mar.
2024.
"What is Music Therapy?" American Music Therapy Association, 2005,
www.musictherapy.org/about/musictherapy/. Accessed 28 Mar. 2024.
"What is Parkinson's?" Parkinson's Foundation, www.parkinson.org/understanding
parkinsons/what-is-parkinsons. Accessed 28 Mar. 2024. Assessed and Endorsed by the MedReport Medical Review Board